Ghosts
by ntamara
Summary: COMPLETE The Shrieking Shack was rumoured to be haunted. Then, after a prank went awry, that was no longer a rumour. HPSS Slash
1. Just A Prank

**Title:** Ghosts

**Author:** ntamara (naomitamaraATyahooDOTcom)

**Rating:** R

**Pairing:** HP/SS, implied HP/SB

**Genre:** Angst/Horror/Romance

**Warnings:** Character Death. Violence and Gore. Implied (Sexual) Child Abuse.

**Summary:** The Shrieking Shack was rumoured to be haunted. Then, after a prank went awry, that was no longer a rumour.

**Disclaimer:** The characters aren't mine; hardly anything of this is mine. They all belong to JKR, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and probably lots of other people who all aren't me. Oh, and I'm not making any money out of this either. Unfortunately.

**Archive:** Ask first.

**A/N:** My thanks go out to Jeddy and Leni Jess for their tireless support and wonderful beta's.

This fic is the companion piece to another story I've written that, incidentally, has the same title. This is the Snarry version of 'Severus does not survive the Shrieking Shack incident'; the other Ghost is a Severus/Albus tale and can be found on my website (check my profile for the link). They only share the same title and premise; any and all other similarities are a coincidence (well, most of them are, anyway ;)

*~*

**1. Just a Prank**

Heart pounding in anticipation, Severus Snape hurried through the corridors of Hogwarts. Finally he would find out what those four Gryffindors were hiding; finally he would find out just what secret 'perfect' prefect Lupin was keeping. Severus slipped stealthily out of the doors and onto the grounds. He could see the outline of the Whomping Willow against the evening sky; the moon would be up soon.

Black had cornered him in the hallway earlier that day, and told him that if he wanted to know where Remus went every month, why not go see for himself. He'd told him how to get past the Whomping Willow's branches to the tunnel that would lead him to Lupin's hide-out. It was a trap, Severus didn't doubt that. Some elaborate prank the four Gryffindors were going to play on him. Severus tightened the grip on his wand. Well, they could try. He was prepared, and they would not get him this time.

There was a long stick lying on the ground near the tree, and Severus used it to poke the knothole in the Whomping Willow's trunk. He quickly found the passage into the tunnel. Wand drawn, he hurried down the passageway. Finally he reached a trapdoor, and after casting a quick spell to make sure nobody was waiting for him above, he opened it and crept into what could only be the Shrieking Shack. On the inside it looked just as derelict as it did on the outside. There was some furniture, but it had all been smashed to pieces long ago.

A noise from upstairs made Severus look up and grip his wand. He took care not to make a sound on the stairs as he climbed them and then crept toward a door that was slightly ajar. Breathing shallowly, he pushed it open to reveal what was inside. The hinges creaked.

Whatever Severus had been expecting, it had not been Remus Lupin sitting – naked – on the floor. Lupin looked up at the sound and stared at Severus in horror.

"Severus? What are you – Get out of here! Merlin, run, Severus, before it's too –" Lupin took a step forward and then fell to his knees, his face contorted in a rictus of pain.

Mouth agape, Severus stood rooted to the floor. He watched in horror as Remus started thrashing around; the noises coming from the other boy were rapidly becoming quite inhuman. Dark fur started to sprout from Lupin's skin; his hands and feet became sharply clawed paws. The joints in his elbows and knees cracked as bone broke and realigned; a tail grew from his rump and a snout filled with razor-sharp teeth protruded from his now inhuman face and glowing, golden eyes. Panting from exertion and pain, the beast lay on the floor of the room.

_Lupin's a werewolf_, Severus realised, and with that realisation, the danger of the situation finally slammed home. Severus took a shaky step backwards. The werewolf's head snapped up, and Severus was caught in its murderous gaze. Slowly it stood up: head hanging low, teeth bared and drooling saliva. It growled. Severus could see its hind legs tensing to spring.

With a cry of terror, Severus turned to run. He had barely made it through the door and into the hallway when something heavy grazed his back and tore his robes open. There was a thump as the werewolf hit the wall having only managed to claw its victim's back open. Severus fell to the floor and lost hold of his wand. It rolled away and then down the stairs. Not daring to look back Severus scrambled to get up and run after it.

The werewolf howled and jumped at him; its jaws closed around Severus' leg, making him scream in pain and terror. Twisting around, Severus kicked and clawed at the beast's head, screaming at it to let him go. A lucky hit wounded one of the werewolf's eyes enough that it released its hold on his leg. Body pumping with adrenaline, Severus scooted backwards away from the beast, and then tumbled down the stairs.

_It bit me. It bit me. It bit me. It bit me._

His leg was a bloody mess, his right arm felt broken, and his back seemed to be on fire. Severus paid no heed to the pain, lunging for his wand with his good arm, no matter that it was not his wand arm. Relief surged through his body as his hand closed around the slim piece of wood, and Severus turned over onto his back to defend himself from his attacker. But the werewolf had already pounced. As Severus' left arm came up and his mouth moved to say the words, the beast hit him in the chest and tore at his wrist, once again sending his wand flying.

_Oh Merlin, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, Merlin, somebody help me, I'm going to die, help me, I'm going to die._

Tears streamed down his face as he tried to grip the werewolf's snout, tearing his hands open on its teeth while its paws left furrows in his chest. The werewolf pulled away for a moment, nearly pulling Severus' left hand right off. He was already missing fingers.

_Oh Merlin, I'm going to die, help me, please, help me, I'm going to die._

Eyes wide in terror, 

_Oh Merlin,_

body burning in pain, 

_help__ me, somebody,_

Severus saw the werewolf lunge forward with its jaws wide open. 

_I'm__ going to die_

He tried to shield himself with what was left of his hands and arms, but the werewolf evaded them easily. 

_I'm__ going to die_

He felt the werewolf close its teeth around his throat and _tear_. And then. Nothing.


	2. Welcome Back

**2. Welcome Back**

"It bit me. It bit me. It bit me. It bit me. Oh Merlin, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, Merlin, somebody help me, I'm going to die, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, I'm going to die, help me, please, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, I'm going to die, help me, please, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, help me, somebody, I'm going to die, I'm going to die."

Severus was screaming and his hands went to his throat, feeling for the gaping hole that should be all that was left. Instead they encountered unblemished skin, and Severus looked up in surprise to find Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, standing opposite him. Severus dropped his hands and stepped forward, reaching out to grasp the headmaster's arms.

"Headmaster! Lupin's a werewolf. He attacked me. Merlin, he bit me! I've been bitten by a werewolf, Lupin's a werewolf, he atta –"

Severus' outstretched hands passed through the headmaster as if the older wizard weren't there. Severus stared at his hands in dawning understanding.

"He killed me." It was a whisper. Severus' head snapped up, and he stared at the headmaster in horror.

"Lupin killed me. I'm dead."

The headmaster nodded slowly, a grave expression on his face.

"He killed me. Lupin killed me. He's a werewolf and he bit me, Headmaster! Black told me to come. They planned to kill me and they murdered me, Headmaster. You have to punish them, they murdered me!"

Severus fell silent again and waited, expecting to hear that Black had been sent to Azkaban, that he was going to be Kissed. That Lupin was on his way to the Ministry to be put down. The headmaster, however, stayed silent. Severus took a step backwards, his sharp mind coming to the most unpleasant realisations.

"You knew Lupin was a werewolf, you had to."

"Yes. He was supposed to be able to safely transform here."

"He _killed_ me, Headmaster. Black lured me here."

"Severus. Sirius Black has convinced me he didn't mean for this to happen; it was only meant to be a prank, it was an accident."

"A prank? A _prank_? I am dead. Lupin _killed _me. He bit me. He scratched me and he tore out my throat. You mustpunish them. They murdered me!" Severus was only vaguely aware of how the back of his robes were slashed open or the invisible force that closed around his leg, maiming the ghostly flesh.

"I can't, Mr Snape. I am truly sorry, but if I punished Mr Black, Remus Lupin would have to be put down. Whatever Sirius Black's motivations, I am convinced Remus knew nothing of this. He – like you – is an innocent, and while I can do nothing to save you, I can save him." There was no sign of the habitual twinkle in the headmaster's blue eyes as he looked at Severus.

"They killed me! Your precious Gryffindors murdered me. Is it because I'm just a Slytherin?" Severus lunged forward to grab the headmaster, but his bloodied and torn hands passed through the old wizard again. "I'm dead. They killed me. I'm _dead_. You cannot let them go unpunished. Please." Tears of frustration ran down Severus' cheeks as he tried to hit the headmaster, as he tried to convince the wizard of the injustice done to him.

"I am sorry, Mr Snape. I had hoped you would find peace in the grave, but unfortunately it was not to be. However, I cannot allow you to leave this place and tell anybody what has happened. It would mean Remus' death, and I will not lose another student. I _am_ truly sorry, believe me." Dumbledore sighed and then turned around to open the trapdoor that concealed the tunnel that lead out of the Shack and to the Whomping Willow. 

Severus shrieked with rage.

"You bastard. You sanctimonious bastard. You can't leave me here. You can't leave me like this. They killed me. They murdered me. Don't go." He tried to follow the headmaster but encountered an invisible force field. 

Dumbledore pulled the trapdoor closed behind him, and Severus fell to the floor, hammering with ghostly hands at the wards that prevented him from following. Silver blood splattered the walls and floor as Severus' throat was once again torn away, the memory of his body reliving its last moments. It didn't stop his screams, however.

"Curse you, Dumbledore. Curse you! 

"It bit me. It bit me. It bit me. It bit me. Oh Merlin, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, Merlin, somebody help me, I'm going to die, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, I'm going to die, help me, please, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, I'm going to die, help me, please, help me, I'm going to die, oh Merlin, help me, somebody, I'm going to die, I'm going to die."


	3. A Friend

**3. A Friend**

Time passed. In the beginning, Severus had had no way of keeping track of the days and nights and seasons that passed.  Then he became aware of the pull of the waxing and waning moon, feeling it keenly when the moon was full and he knew that Lupin – the werewolf – was out there somewhere. He tried counting the moons, but after sixteen, he stopped. It made no difference to his situation. It didn't matter. 

Since Dumledore had left only one person had come to see him. Not long after the headmaster had passedsentenceand condemned Severus to this prison, Lupin had timidly entered the Shack, looking pale and tired. There were dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks were hollow. Then he had tried to apologise.

Severus had shrieked and cursed the boy who had murdered him. His ghostly form had been mutilated before Lupin's eyes as Severus relived his death. When Severus' throat was torn out and silvery blood sprayed the room, Lupin had fallen to his knees, retching and throwing up whatever he'd eaten earlier. And then the cowardly werewolf had fled down the passageway, leaving Severus still trapped in his prison, the small puddle of vomit on the floor the only proof any living person had been there. It had long since dried up and was now just another stain on the floor.

Sometimes Severus was silent. He would float through the Shack from room to room, sometimes through the walls and sometimes through the doorways. He would contemplate his brief life and wallow in self-pity and misery. This would inevitably lead to thoughts of his death, which would in turn make him shriek and throw himself against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling in an attempt to escape. It was the only way he could vent his frustration, no matter that it made no difference. Whenever the rage at the injustice done to him rose within him, he would experience his death again. He did not feel the pain – not exactly – nor the fear, only an all-consuming rage and frustration that literally ate and tore at him.

Sometimes he would huddle in a corner and weep. He would beg for a release from this prison, beg to be allowed to move on, to be allowed to escape. But his prayers were never answered, and Severus knew that they never would be. Dumbledore would never set him free, and Lupin obviously did not have the guts to do the right, Gryffindor thing and turn himself in.

Severus wondered what tale had been spun to cover his disappearance. Did they know he was dead? Or had the headmaster fabricated a lie and told everybody he'd run away? Ha. Where would he have run to? Hogwarts – miserable place that it had always been to him – was still the only real home he had ever known. He was not surprised in the least that his father had obviously not taken much trouble to investigate his death or disappearance. The older Snape was no doubt glad to have rid himself of his disappointing son.

Time passed, and Severus knew nothing of the outside world. Until one night. 

He had heard disturbances outside before, whenever something particularly noisy happened in Hogsmeade, but nothing compared with this. Shouting. Jubilant Singing. Through the boarded up and grimy windows he could see multi-coloured explosions of light in the sky. Apparently, they were having a celebration of some kind. Curious, Severus pressed his eyes to a crack between some boards and tried in vain to see what was going on. He was so engrossed in trying to figure out what was happening that he only noticed the intruder when he spoke.

"Who are you?"

Severus jumped and spun around. His surprise was so great that for a moment all Severus could do was stare at the ghost hovering in front of him.

"I say, you look familiar. I didn't know Hogwarts had a new ghost."

"Nearly-Headless Nick?" He gaped at the Gryffindor ghost. 

Sir Nicholas frowned, obviously not happy to be reminded of the fact he was nearly-headless and not just-headless. He was holding a tankard of ghostly ale in one hand, and there was a festive cap sporting an array of feathers on his head. He must have been celebrating as well.

"Sir Nicholas." Severus rushed forward and grasped the other ghost's arms. The fact that he _could _– that he could touch and feel the other – made him stare at where his hands clasped Sir Nicholas' elbows in wonder and amazement.

"Why, look here, young fellow," the ghost started, trying to extract himself from Severus' hold, but Severus was not letting go and he quickly interrupted him.

"You have to help me escape. Get me out of here; tell them he trapped me here and I did nothing wrong. 

"How could he leave me like this? How could he not punish them? I am dead. They murdered me and he did not care. He just covered it up like some shameful secret, and I have been trapped here alone ever since. They murdered me and he doesn't care because I was just another slimy Slytherin – not one of his precious Gryffindors, whom he allows to get away with murder!"

"What are you talking about? Who murdered you? Who covered it up?" the other ghost interrupted. The jug of ale had disappeared, and he looked at Severus in confusion. 

"You're a Hogwarts ghost – and at least five years old from the looks of you – why haven't we seen you up at the castle?"

Severus closed his eyes, still gripping the other ghost tightly. He tried to find the self-control he had always had when alive. Another thing Dumbledore had taken from him; his simmering rage boiled over even as he softly hissed his tale.

"Sirius Black lured me to the Shrieking Shack where he knew Remus Lupin was waiting for me. Lupin's a werewolf. He transformed when I arrived, and then killed me. He slashed my back and bit me." The wounds – Severus' stigmata – were inflicted again as Sir Nicholas looked on in horror. "He nearly tore my hand off." Severus waved the bloody appendage in front of the other ghost's face. 

"And then he ripped my throat out, and I was dead. They murdered me and Dumbledore locked me in here. I cannot leave; he made this my prison. He covered up their crime, and I have been condemned to haunt the place of my murder. He is the headmaster; I was a student. How could he do that? They murdered me, I am _dead_, and he did nothing!" Severus shrieked at the injustice as his ghostly body relived the memory of the werewolf tearing him apart and feasting on his flesh.

Slowly Severus calmed down, and with the calm, his body was restored. Sir Nicholas had turned an even paler shade of silver, although Severus doubted it was because of his gruesome demise. After all, the other ghost could hardly be said to have died a clean death himself. 

"You're that Snape boy, the Slytherin who disappeared seven years ago. They said you'd run away."

Severus nodded. "Yes, he lied. He lied and covered up their crime. And I have been trapped here ever since, trapped in this loathsome and pitiful existence because of the injustice done to _me_."

Slowly Sir Nicholas shook his head in denial. "There must have been some kind of misunderstanding."

"No. No misunderstanding. Black and Lupin did this to me. _Dumbledore_ did this to me. They wronged me and I have been punished for their crime." Severus felt the small measure of control he had managed to regain quickly dwindle away.

"I will talk to the headmaster at once. This is not right; I am sure he will see the error of his ways." The ghost turned around and floated to the trapdoor in the floor, sinking through it. Severus rushed forward in an attempt to grasp the other ghost and stop him from leaving.

"No. Don't go. Don't leave me here. Don't tell Dumbledore. He won't change his mind. Tell the others; reveal what he has done to me. Please, Sir Nicholas."

However, the other ghost had already disappeared. Severus was left pounding at the floor, the exit the other ghost had so easily used and he could not pass through. Severus shrieked in rage and frustration as the back of his robes was slashed open once more.

Time passed, and Severus haunted the shack, desperate for Sir Nicholas to return, for _anyone_ to appear and free him from this confinement and loneliness. He did not know how much time passed before the Gryffindor ghost appeared again, but he was reasonably sure it hadn't been more than a few days, there certainly hadn't been a full moon cycle anyway. There was a grave look on the other ghost's face.

"Severus."

"Sir Nicholas." Severus was nervous. The ghost had obviously spoken to Dumbledore. What would the headmaster do?

"I have spoken to the headmaster, and I must say I am ashamed of my house, Severus. I am deeply ashamed of three of its members."

The Gryffindor ghost was silent, and he looked away in shame before bravely facing the dead Slytherin once more. 

"Dumbledore explained the situation to me, and he has sworn me to secrecy. He was going to put up new wards to prevent any other ghosts from coming here and accidentally discovering you like I did, but I managed to convince him otherwise. However, I am afraid I could not persuade him to let you go.

"The headmaster explained that he did this to prevent Remus Lupin's execution, and I can understand that. I too believe that young man was not involved, that he was as much a victim as yourself.  Nevertheless, as Gryffindors, neither of them should ever have allowed this _travesty_ to continue. I am sure there would have been other ways to deal with the situation that would have ensured your peace. Of Sirius Black, I can only say that it is a good thing he now rots in Azkaban. And I did not hesitate to point out to Dumbledore the tragedy that could have been prevented if only Black's murderous nature had been revealed to the world sooner..."

"Black is in Azkaban? How? Why?"

Sir Nicholas frowned. "You do not know? He was the Potters' secret-keeper, but he betrayed them to You-Know-Who."

Severus' confusion must have been evident – or Sir Nicholas must have realised that Severus had been cut off from the outside world for over seven years – because he quickly elaborated.

"You-Know-Who was after James and Lily Potter. They had gone into hiding under the _Fidelius_ charm, and Sirius betrayed them. When the Aurors went to apprehend him, he killed another of his friends, Peter Pettigrew, and twelve Muggles. He was standing there, laughing, when the Aurors arrived, and they sent him directly to Azkaban. The Potters are dead, but young Harry, their son, somehow managed to deflect the Dark Lord's killing curse and defeat him. That was what we were celebrating when I found you."

While it did Severus good to hear that at least one of his murderers was now in Azkaban, it did not change the fact that it wasn't for the right crime. What did he care about the Potters or You-Know-Who? James had tormented him just as much as Black, and Severus had never been in the crowd of Slytherins devoted to Lord Voldemort. He had never been popular enough to join.

"So I am still trapped here?"

"I am afraid so. I tried to reason with the headmaster – surely a different solution could be found – but it was hard enough to convince him to allow me to continue seeing you. 

"I feel that since Gryffindor has wronged you, a Gryffindor must make amends. While I cannot grant you your freedom, Severus Snape, I can keep you company."

"You'll visit me?"

The Gryffindor ghost nodded. For a moment, Severus felt relief and gratitude. Then the bitter rage welled up.

"I don't want your _pity_. What good is your company to me, _Gryffindor_? I want my freedom. I want justice. I want revenge! They murdered me. I am dead and Dumbledore covered it up."

Sir Nicholas watched Severus relive his death again, his face impassive, and he only spoke when Severus had worn himself out.

"I do not pity you, Severus Snape." That was all he said, then he turned and floated through the trapdoor again, leaving Severus alone. 

Severus shrieked.

Nevertheless, despite Severus' harsh words, despite the fact they were oft repeated, Sir Nicholas kept coming back. He would talk to the Slytherin ghost; inform him of Peeves' latest mischief, the latest Hogwarts gossip, and just generally what was happening in the outside world. 

Although Severus would never admit it, he was grateful for the other ghost's company, grateful for the distraction Sir Nicholas provided. He never said it, would still lose his calm and rage against the injustice, and shriek at the Gryffindor to help him or be gone. However, as the years passed, gradually the times he would lose control like that lessened, until it hardly ever happened in Sir Nicholas' presence anymore. This was the only way he could show his gratitude, his appreciation. Severus would never admit it to the other ghost, but he knew it was because he had finally found a friend, no matter how unlikely that friend had turned out to be.


	4. At First Sight

**4. At First Sight**

Sir Nicholas was muttering under his breath, staring morosely and unseeing out in front of him as he floated up through the trapdoor.

"... don't fulfil their requirements... half an inch, if that. Hello, Severus."

"Hello, Nicholas. What's wrong?"

The other ghost waved a letter in the air angrily. There was a bitter look on his face that Severus was not used to seeing and that he didn't think suited the otherwise lively and friendly ghost.

"I have received a reply to my application for the Headless Hunt. From SirPatrick Delaney-Podmore himself." The sarcasm dripped from his words. "Here," he shoved the creased letter into Severus' hands. "Read this. Apparently I 'don't fulfil their requirements'. Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my head on, Severus. Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh no, it's not good enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore."

Severus quickly scanned the letter as Sir Nicholas continued his rant.

"But you would think, wouldn't you, that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt? I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly. I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule."

Severus made commiserating noises and handed the letter back. He had heard this story before, and he mused that it was Sir Nicholas' way of dealing with the injustice done to him. As ghosts, they were both trapped in the past, in their deaths, and unable to move on. He had encouraged his friend to apply for the Headless Hunt, hoping this would help ease Sir Nicholas' pain, but that had obviously been a stupid idea by the look of how upset the other ghost was now.

"The bastards. I'm so sorry."

Sir Nicholas sighed and then stuffed the crumpled letter away. 

"It's not your fault, Severus. At least I tried. After nearly five centuries, what kind of a Gryffindor was I to never have tried." His face suddenly brightened up. "Oh. I nearly forgot. You know it's my five hundredth Death Day this Hallowe'en?"

Severus nodded. They had been talking about it for what seemed like years now, discussing Sir Nicholas' plans. Even if he could not attend, Severus was happy to help his friend with the preparations. It was the least he could do in return for Sir Nicholas' time and companionship. It was also another welcome distraction from his own pitiful existence.

"Well, I didn't want to raise your hopes before, and it took me quite a while before I could convince him, but the headmaster has agreed that you can attend the party." The triumph Sir Nicholas felt was evident on his face and in his voice, and it took a moment for what the other ghost had just said to sink in.

"I can go to your Death Day celebration? At Hogwarts?"

Sir Nicholas nodded. "Yes." A slight shadow passed over his face. "But there are a number of conditions." He frowned. 

"I guaranteed the headmaster a simple promise on your behalf would be sufficient: I know your word can be trusted, Severus," he said gravely, and Severus felt slightly uncomfortable under Sir Nicholas' solemn and trusting gaze. "But he would only agree to let you attend on the condition that you were put under a geas not to mention – or answer any questions about – your death or your present situation. He has informed the other ghosts of your presence here, but you are not to reveal your identity to them. He told them you died in an accident that bound you to the Shack." Sir Nicholas didn't bother to contain his disdain for this outright lie.

While Severus did not relish the thought of being subjected to yet another spell by Hogwarts' headmaster, he was so desperate to leave his prison for even just one night that he would have agreed to nearly anything. Besides, the fact that Sir Nicholas had gone to all this trouble just so he could attend was reason enough to do whatever it was Albus Dumbledore required.

"It's all right. Tell him I agree."

Sir Nicholas' smile returned and he clapped Severus on the back. 

"Capital. This is going to be the best Death Day party ever."

Hallowe'en afternoon, Dumbledore came to the Shack. Severus had known it would happen: that he would see the headmaster again. Nevertheless, he was not prepared for the hatred he felt, and despite his firm resolution not to break down in front of Dumbledore, he lost control three times in a row before he could calm himself sufficiently to stop reliving his death.

Dumbledore didn't blink an eye. He didn't apologise for the last seventeen years of isolation and confinement. He just calmly waited until Severus collected himself before explaining the terms of Severus' 'parole'. The geas would prevent him from speaking about his death, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, the Shrieking Shack, and anything else that might reveal the headmaster's dirty little secret. There was an additional spell that would prevent any of the ghosts – except for Sir Nicholas of course – from recognising him as the missing Slytherin. Dumbledore would take him to the dungeons himself, and a timed spell would transport him back to the Shack at midnight precisely.

Severus snorted at the headmaster's 'sense of humour', but said nothing. He did not want to risk Dumbledore changing his mind. He would submit to the geas and to the spells. He would submit to anything to escape this hellhole, even if it was only for a few hours.

Dumbledore cast the spells, and Severus could feel them binding him. A mental prison, not just a physical one: one for his mind instead of his body. He thought of Black, of his death, and it was as if a noose tightened around his throat, making him realise that not only could he not speak of his death, he could not relive it either. 

However, then Dumbledore lifted the trapdoor and descended into the passageway to the Whomping Willow. He held it open for Severus to follow him, and Severus determined not to think about it. It would only be for one too short, and now it seemed too long as well, night.

Hogwarts was the same as Severus remembered it. It was as if nothing had changed, as if seventeen years had not passed. Severus distractedly followed the headmaster over the grounds and into the castle, through deserted corridors to the dungeons. This small taste of freedom only revived an ache and longing inside Severus that he had fought for seventeen years to suppress: to escape his prison and be free. He bit his lip and determined not to think about the fact that he had precious few hours to savour this freedom before he would be returned to his own personal hell.

There were already a few ghosts present, watching the House Elves set up the buffet of decaying food and rotting meat. Sir Nicholas enthusiastically greeted Severus, while coolly accepting the headmaster's congratulations for his five hundredth Death Day.

Severus was glad to see Dumbledore leave, and he helped Sir Nicholas with the last of the preparations. Then one by one the other ghosts began to arrive. Some Severus recognised from his schooldays – not one of them recognised him, not even the Bloody Baron – some he recognised from Sir Nicholas' stories. Sir Nicholas introduced him to each of the new arrivals as his 'friend Severus Snape', and they nodded politely and then turned away. He wondered if it was another one of Dumbledore's spells. Was it not enough that none of the other ghosts would recognise him, didn't Dumbledore want them to socialise with him either? But then again, Severus' lack of social skills had haunted him through his living days already, and he was still surprised that Sir Nicholas would want to spend time with him.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter anyway. He was out of the Shack, even if only for the evening, and his friend was obviously having a wonderful time. Sir Nicholas was mournfully greeting his guests, and Severus stayed hovering nearby, watching the other ghosts interact. Sometime later there was a disturbance, and he saw the ghost of a plain girl rushing past, moaning and wailing, as Peeves pursued her calling her rude names. She was the first ghost who appeared to be somewhere near his age – both in regard to ghost years and their age at death – and he was sufficiently distracted that he lost sight of Sir Nicholas for a moment. When he found his friend again, he was surprised to see him with three live students.

Two boys and a girl. He saw the girl and the redhead first – a Weasley by his looks – and then he saw the other boy. A messy mop of black hair and ugly round glasses. For a moment, he was transported back to the past, to memories of a face like that laughing at him, but those memories vanished at the sight of bright green eyes. Severus could only stare, and for the life of him, he could not think why. Sir Nicholas was talking to the three students, but Severus paid their conversation no heed. The orchestra had stopped playing, and Severus did not notice. The boy was looking around now, and their eyes met. For the first time that evening, Severus felt as if someone other than Sir Nicholas had actually _seen_ him.

The moment ended, the boy looked away, and only then did Severus finally notice the disturbance, notice his friend's bitter resignation. A group of horsemen had just come riding through one of the dungeon walls, and he heard Sir Nicholas mutter, 'Oh, here we go.' A boisterous ghost who had been blowing a horn – his head in the crook of his arm – made a show of looking around the room with the loose appendage, much to everybody's amusement. A sneer found its way quickly to Severus' lips, and he glared at the ghost now striding toward Sir Nicholas.

"Nick," he bawled. "Head still hanging in there?"

Why Sir Nicholas deigned to answer the bore was beyond Severus, especially considering the fact that the prat immediately turned his attention to the three students and proceeded to make a fool of himself. Severus was happily surprised to see that the boy tried to defend Sir Nicholas, even if he was hardly able to get a word in.

Severus had been distracted again; Sir Nicholas was striding toward the podium trying in vain to get everybody's attention for his speech. Severus hesitated for a moment – not wanting to leave the boy without getting a chance to talk to him – but in the end loyalty won out and he went to console a desolate Sir Nicholas. The Headless Hunt had taken over the celebration.

Sir Nicholas sat on the dais, morosely staring at Podmore and his fellows as they entertained the guests. Severus tried to spot the boy and his two companions within the crowd, but they must have left during the confusion.

"Nicholas, who was that boy: the one with the green eyes?"

"You mean Harry Potter?"  
"That was James Potter's son?" he should have known, should have made the connection, but he had been distracted by those green eyes.

Sir Nicholas nodded and cheered up a little. "Yes. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. At least he was invited and didn't try to take over my party," he glared half-heartedly at the Headless Hunt.

"Don't mind them, Nicholas. They're bastards; you're worth ten of Podmore."

The other ghost smiled. "You're a good and loyal friend, Severus. You would have made a fine Gryffindor."

Severus bristled at the insult, and then realised that it was a compliment, but not one he would have ever expected to receive. "I guess it comes from hanging around with you," he muttered, and Sir Nicholas laughed and clapped him heartily on the back.

"Let's get out of here. This is a lost cause. I know I promised Dumbledore that you'd stay here, but what the headmaster doesn't know..."

"Why, Nicholas. What a positively Slytherin thought."

"I know. The shame. Seriously, though, you have been locked in that dreadful place for nearly two decades now; we should make the most of the rest of the evening. You had enough time in the dungeons when you were a student. Let us walk around the school. As long as we take care nobody sees us, and with that dreadful geas Dumbledore put you under, we should be fine."

Sir Nicholas guided him around the school, even through the Gryffindor common room, until they stood on top of the Astronomy Tower. They could see the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade, and the Shrieking Shack, and Severus wished he didn't have to go back. However, the clock struck twelve, and the two ghosts shook hands before Severus was mercilessly transported back to his prison. Severus was relieved that at least the geas was lifted immediately upon his return.

Not wanting to think about his sorry condition, Severus drifted through the Shack. He contemplated those green eyes instead, and wondered at his sudden fascination with this Harry Potter.


	5. Showdown

**5. Showdown**

Some time after the Death Day party Sir Nicholas suddenly stopped visiting. Severus was quite sure it was still winter, so only a few months had passed at most. 

At first Severus thought nothing of it. As the Gryffindor House ghost, Sir Nicholas was at times busy and unable to come out to the Shrieking Shack as often as during the holidays. However, usually he gave Severus at least some warning, and as the days passed and Sir Nicholas still did not appear, Severus began to become worried.

Had something happened to the ghost? But who or what could harm a ghost? Had the headmaster discovered their little excursion out of the dungeons on Hallowe'en and was he now punishing Severus, punishing Nicholas? Had he forbidden Nicholas to visit him for a while? Forever? 

Or perhaps Sir Nicholas had finally tired of Severus, had finally tired of hearing Severus complain about the injustice done to him, about Black and Lupin and Dumbledore and the Shack. Yes. The Gryffindor ghost had probably finally decided that Gryffindor had been redeemed, that he had done sufficient penance for the others. Had that not been Sir Nicholas' reasoning for keeping Severus company in the first place?

Severus laughed bitterly. He should have expected that this would happen. Why would Sir Nicholas, such a nice and kind ghost, ever want to spend time with Snivellus Snape? This shouldn't have been such a surprise. Of course the other ghost was going to desert him like this. It was a wonder he had kept the facade up for so long. Sir Nicholas had lured Severus into a false sense of security, had convinced Severus he was his friend, only to desert him like everybody else in his life and death had. Would he never learn? You could never trust a Gryffindor. You could never trust anybody.

He tried not to let this betrayal get to him, tried to forget the past eleven years of friendship. Severus didn't need some two-faced, do-goody Gryffindor to keep him company. He didn't need anyone.

The complete and utter isolation was worse than before. Before, he had not known otherwise. Before, the memory of his death had been fresh and a constant presence in his mind to distract him. With Sir Nicholas' help and the passage of time, however, the memory had lost a lot of its urgency, and his thoughts kept wandering back to his 'friend'.

Foolishly, stupidly, he kept hoping for Sir Nicholas to come floating through that trapdoor. Any moment now. Any moment now.

The self-control Severus had worked so hard to gain over the past decade rapidly vanished. What was the point of it anymore? What else could he do but shriek and relive his death? So he did, again and again and again, until he had exhausted himself and was nothing more than a chill in the room and a sigh in the air.

Severus' existence narrowed to these brief moments of peace, when he was hardly conscious of himself, and time lost the little meaning it had gained.

Then one day – or night or morning or evening, it made no difference – Sir Nicholas floated up through the trapdoor as if nothing had happened.

"Ah, Severus. You are a sight for sore eyes. My sincerest apologies for my long absence, but a basilisk had petrified me. Frightful thing, only a Slytherin would think to keep such a thing as a pet." 

The Gryffindor ghost shivered, and then proceeded to tell Severus what had happened up at the Castle over the past half year. Slytherin's heir, the Chamber of Secrets, a diary with the essence of a young Lord Voldemort that had possessed a young Gryffindor girl. Professor Sprout's mandrakes that had provided the cure for the petrified ghost, cat and students. Harry Potter, who had slain the basilisk and the spectre of Tom Riddle.

Severus listened to the fantastic story and did not let his eyes leave the other ghost, afraid Sir Nicholas would disappear never to return this time.

When Sir Nicholas was finally done, he looked at Severus more thoroughly and then sighed. Severus knew the Gryffindor ghost saw more than he would want him to.

"Did no one tell you what had happened? I had hoped Dumbledore –" the other ghost's voice trailed off and he shook his head, taking one of Severus' hands in both his own. 

"I would never desert you like that, Severus. On my honour, as a Gryffindor – and yes, I know you have little reason to trust the word of a Gryffindor – if I do not visit you it will be because of something beyond my powers. And I promise, I swear to you, that I shall make arrangements that should something like this happen again, Merlin forbid, someone will warn you."

Sir Nicholas spoke solemnly, and after a moment's hesitation, Severus nodded. The other ghost smiled broadly.

"Good. Now, do you remember that pompous man Lockhart, the Defence against the Dark Arts Professor this year? Well, apparently his books are more fiction than fact, and he –"

Sir Nicholas kept his word, and on his next visit, he brought with him Hufflepuff House's ghost, the Fat Friar, Joseph to his friends. Moreover, he did this without Dumbledore's permission, or knowledge. Severus promised that he would not reveal the truth of his death, or the reason for his confinement to the Shack, while the Fat Friar took a solemn oath not to ask and to keep Severus' presence in the shack a secret. This way, Sir Nicholas told Severus, he was at least keeping to the spirit of his promise to Dumbledore.

Joseph was an amiable ghost, and he even came to see Severus on his own a few times during the summer. Severus listened while Joseph talked mainly about himself and Hufflepuff as there was little he could say without revealing too much. He was startled to one day realise he had two friends now, and he cautiously hoped that this would herald better times.

However, a few weeks before the start of the new term, Sir Nicholas entered the Shack nervously. He hesitated before revealing the identity of the new DADA Professor. Remus Lupin. 

Severus could not contain himself. He could not believe Dumbledore would allow the werewolf to return to Hogwarts, to teach and endanger the children. Sir Nicholas tried to defend Lupin, but he did so half-heartedly. While he still believed that Lupin had been a victim of Sirius Black's prank just like Severus, his subsequent behaviour was not worthy of any Gryffindor in his opinion. 

The Gryffindor ghost did not know what arrangements Lupin and the headmaster had made for the nights of the full moon, but he suspected they would use a cell in the dungeons. Dumbledore had at least told him that Lupin would not be using the Shack. Severus was unsure whether to be disappointed about this or not. If he never saw a werewolf again, it would be too soon. Nevertheless, he would have liked the opportunity to confront and remind his murderer of his crime and the blood he spilt.

Things only went downhill from there. A week later, Sir Nicholas came with the news that Sirius Black himself had escaped from Azkaban and that they feared he was out to kill the last remaining Potter. The Ministry was posting Dementors at the school, and the headmaster had spoken to Sir Nicholas and declared the Shrieking Shack off limits, at least, until Black was captured. He did not want to risk anybody following the Gryffindor ghost and inadvertently discovering the Shack – and thus Severus and the new DADA Professor's secret. The fact that such a thing had not happened over the past twelve years did nothing to dissuade Dumbledore.

At least Dumbledore had allowed Sir Nicholas to warn Severus, and they both agreed that it would be too dangerous for the Fat Friar to visit him either, lest the headmaster notice. The Gryffindor ghost promised to do all he could to get the ban lifted as soon as possible, but Severus doubted that would happen before either Black was caught, or Lupin had left the school again. The longer either took, the greater the chance – Severus suspected – that Dumbledore would never allow these visits again. Either that or Sir Nicholas would lose all interest in Severus...

He was confined in solitude to the Shack once more, with no way of escape, no means of communication with anybody else. Depression and despair ate at Severus' soul and mind. He yearned for any distraction, knowing there would be none.

*~*

One day Severus was floating through the Shack, brooding as usual, when he heard the trapdoor being flung open and then dropped back in its place. He froze, silent and wide-eyed. Only one living person ever came here. Severus doubted the headmaster would come bearing good news.

There was the sound of pacing, and Severus gripped his rage and self-control tightly. He would not show fear in front of Dumbledore. Hands clenched into fists at his side, Severus swooped down through the floor to confront the intruder. 

He halted in mid-air at the discovery it was not the headmaster, but Sirius Black.

Black spun around and stared back. He was older and nearly skeletal – a shadow of the handsome and arrogant boy he had once been. However, Severus would recognise his murderer anywhere. It did not matter that Black's hair was long and matted, that he was thin and filthy. It made no difference that his face was gaunt; that dirty rags hung about his bony body and his once bright blue eyes were misty and sunken into his skull. For a moment, fugitive and ghost made a frozen tableau, staring at each other in surprise.

Surprise turned to outrage and hatred. Severus shrieked, launching himself forward to fasten ghostly hands around Black's throat. They passed through Black and made him back away against one of the Shack's walls.

"Murderer. Bastard. You filthy rotten son of a bitch, how dare you show your face here?" Severus shrieked.

He loomed over Black – _pitiful excuse for a human being that he was_ – and Severus surrendered himself to the rage and hatred that boiled within him, relishing the swipe of the werewolf's claws across his back, its gouging jaws on his leg.

"Look at what you did to me. Coward. Murderer. Look at me. What did I do to you? What did I do to deserve death? What did I do to you?"

Black's already sallow complexion had paled even more, and he raised a trembling arm as if to ward off the angry ghost.

"It was an accident, a stupid prank, just like the ones you played on us. I didn't mean –" 

"A joke? Trying to kill me a joke? All I did was defend myself from you and your miserable troupe of Gryffindors: I turned your hair green, I hexed you with boils. You murdered me! Did you think it would be funny? Did they laugh? Did Dumbledore pet you on the head?"

Severus reached for Black again, torn and bloodied hands fruitlessly trying to grip the man's throat.

"Did I give you your taste for death, Black? Did you keep your hands clean when you killed the Potters too?"

"No."

Black threw himself out of the ghost's way and scrambled across the room, backing up against the stairs as Severus followed him relentlessly.

"I didn't. It wasn't me; it was Peter, we switched; my fault..."

Severus disregarded Black's incoherent mumbling.

"Stupid Gryffindors, they should have known you for what you are. A traitor and a murderer. You should have been drowned at birth, put out of your misery, out of ours. Murderer. Coward. Murderer."

The fact that Severus' throat was torn out, silvery blood gushing down his torn robes, did not hinder his shrieking. He swooped down and through Black's trembling and weeping form.

"What do you want from me?" The wretched man shouted, as he stumbled through the Shack, trying to escape Severus' attacks. "It was an accident. You were supposed to piss your pants. That's all. Remus hardly spoke to me after that, and I've spent the past twelve years in Azkaban for a crime I did not commit!"

"What about the crime you did commit? What about me? You murdered me, and I have been stuck in this hellhole. You led me straight into the jaws of your werewolf friend, and Dumbledore patted you on the head and covered up for you and that flea-ridden monster. My death, my blood is on your hands, Sirius Black, and you were not punished."

Black had reached the trapdoor and was scrabbling for purchase, pulling at the floorboards. He flung it aside, revealing his escape route, and as Severus swooped through him one more time, he changed into a great black dog. The animal jumped through the hole in the floor into the darkness below, its tail between its legs.

Severus shrieked and pounded the invisible barrier that kept him from following his quarry, his murderer, his victim.

"Get back here, Black. Murderer. Face me, you coward. Look at what you did to me!"

*~*

It took Severus a long time to calm down after Black's departure. Every time he saw the hole in the floor, the exit he could not escape through, the rage bubbled up inside him, and he would shriek and display his stigmata once more.

How dare Black come to this place, thinking he might find refuge at the scene of his crime? He had evidently not expected to find Severus' ghost haunting the Shack; Dumbledore must have only told the werewolf about Severus' ghost. 

Curse Dumbledore. If he had not forbidden Sir Nicholas from seeing Severus, then Black might have long been apprehended. He doubted that the _wise_ _and_ _almighty_ headmaster knew about Black's secret, knew that Gryffindor's black sheep was an Animagus. And what a fitting form too. Mangy, wretched cur that Black had always been.

Time passed slowly, and Severus concentrated on his rage and hatred to keep himself sane. He knew winter had come and gone, and could only deduce from the fact Sir Nicholas had still not been to see him that neither the Ministry nor Dumbledore had yet been able to recapture Black. What had Sir Nicholas said? They were worried he had come to kill the last Potter, to kill Harry.

Severus thought about the green-eyed boy he had seen only briefly at his friend's Death Day celebration. The Gryffindor ghost had told Severus all about him; how this boy had somehow managed to defeat the Dark Lord, that he had been the one to slay the basilisk last year, and that he had survived another attack in his first year. Something about a possessed teacher and the Philosopher's Stone.

James Potter's son. Severus remembered the elder Potter, remembered hating him with a passion equal to his hatred for Black, Pettigrew, Lupin, all those stuck-up arrogant Gryffindors. Hypocrites, the lot of them. However, when Black and Lupin murdered him, when Dumbledore bound him to this place, after nearly two decades had passed since he had been a boy, since he had been alive, and the grievances and slights Potter had put him through paled in comparison to his death. 

Severus hoped that they would catch Black and soon, not just for his own sake, but before he harmed Harry Potter.

If only Dumbledore had not trapped him in this place, if only he had not forbidden Sir Nicholas from visiting. Severus would gladly share Black's secret; he doubted that Lupin – oh, and the werewolf would know, Severus was sure of that – had revealed that his childhood friend was an Animagus.

Spring was giving way to summer, and still Sir Nicholas did not visit. Nobody came, until the night of the full moon.

Severus knew there would be a full moon that night; it was one of the few things outside that he truly knew, that he for some reason could feel. He drifted through the empty shack and hoped that Lupin was chained up in a dungeon. And suffering. It was getting dark.

Then there was sound where there should be none. It came up from the hole in the Shack's floor, from the tunnel that led to the Whomping Willow. Severus floated into the Shack's main room and eyed the black hole that led to the tunnel and the Whomping Willow.

"Let go of me. Help, let go." the voice of a boy cried out, his pain evident. Severus hesitantly moved closer to the open trapdoor and tried to see what was going on. Then a big and scruffy black dog – _Black_ – jumped into the Shack, dragging a red-haired boy by the arm. One leg was twisted and dragged at an unnatural angle, and the boy's face was pale from fear and pain. Severus recognised him immediately from Nicholas' Death Day party.

The dog finally dropped his victim, shook its dirty pelt and transformed into Sirius Black. The boy looked as if he were going to be sick, one hand clamped over his breast where something wriggled violently beneath the cloth, and his other hand clawing wildly at his robes, no doubt searching for his wand. There was a flash of wood in the boy's hand, and then Black was atop him, wrestling the wand from the boy's grip.

Severus shrieked and swooped through Black. "Murderer," he screamed, trying to distract him from the boy and stop him from gaining a wand. But his bloodied hands passed through Black's arms, and it was too late.

Black jumped away from the boy, and a maniacal grin twisted his gaunt features. "Shut up, Snivellus! _Gelu__ Rigens Umbram_."

Severus felt himself freeze in place, unable to move, escape, or make a sound. The blood that had been gushing from his throat stopped, hanging in the air like a silver mist. Black laughed, and then slung the boy over one shoulder and carried him up the stairs and away from the ghost.

Severus watched him go, his eyes all he could move. He raged against the spell that kept him prisoner, but it did not waver, and he strained to hear what Black was doing in the bedroom upstairs. Then he was distracted by more sounds coming from the tunnel. A ginger cat shot out of the open trapdoor and headed straight for the stairs, not even glancing at the frozen spirit.

"Harry, look. I think we're in the Shrieking Shack," he heard a girl whisper.

Oh. No, _no_. _Get away from here, run. It's not safe, Black is waiting for you._

However, the two children could not hear him, and Severus watched helplessly as Harry and the bushy-haired girl from Sir Nicholas' Death Day party climbed through the hole in the floor and looked around with wide eyes. They were both holding their wands, tips alight with _Lumos_. Harry gasped when he saw Severus – suspended in mid-air, robes slashed open and throat a bloody silver mess – and there was recognition in his eyes.

In his mind, Severus pleaded with the boy to run, to go away and get help – _Black is waiting for you_ – but there was a creak overhead, and the bushy-haired girl gripped Harry's arm and started pulling him toward the stairs. They crept silently up the stairs, and all he could do was watch them go.

Powerless, unable to intervene or help the children, Severus listened to the sound of footsteps, the creaking of the floorboards.

"You killed my mum and dad!" He heard Harry shout, and then the sound of scuffling, of fighting. _Oh Merlin, please don't let Black hurt him, please don't let Black hurt him_. He could hear the other boy and the girl shouting too, the cat hissing. There were thumps on the floor above, and the spell that held Severus wavered.

_Finite Incantatem, Finitie Incantatem, Finite Incantatem_. Severus repeated the mantra over and over in his mind. He had never tried to do magic as a ghost before, but he did not know what else to do as he fought against the weakening spell.

"No you don't!" Harry yelled, and the spell broke. Severus shot through the air and through the ceiling, up into the bedroom, dreading what he might find.

The red-haired boy was slumped on the four-poster bed. The girl sat beside him, clutching two wands. Black was sprawled against one of the walls, his skull-like face scratched and bruised, his nose bleeding, panting for air. Harry stood in the centre of the room and held his wand pointed at Black's thin chest.

"You killed my parents," he said in a slightly shaky and hoarse voice. Finger shaped bruises mottled the skin of his throat, but his wand did not waver.

"I don't deny it," Black replied quietly, "but if you knew the whole story –"

"Don't listen to him!" Severus shrieked, lunging for Black with his bloodied and torn hands. "He's a liar and a murderer. Kill him, kill him now, don't –"

However, Severus' sudden appearance and outcry distracted the boy, and Black lunged forward, twisting Harry's wand from his hand. The girl was crying, and she pointed her wand at the two struggling figures, unable to get a clear shot. Severus tried to distract Black, passing through him again and again, but the escaped convict ignored him, and Severus' attacks only seemed to hinder Harry.

"_Expelliarmus_."

Black had wrestled Harry's wand from his grip, and as he threw the boy off, he used it to summon the two wands the girl was holding.

"You have to listen to me, Harry. I didn't betray your parents, Peter did. We switched at the last moment. I thought I was _so smart_," he added bitterly. "Peter framed me for the death of those Muggles, and when I saw him in the paper, that and knew he was at Hogwarts, I had to get out. You must believe me."

"Don't trust him. He's a liar, a murderer, he killed –"

"_Gelu Rigens Umbram_."

Severus found himself once more frozen helplessly in the air, unable to do anything but watch whatever might unfold. The three children stared at him and Black, before the boy on the bed broke the silence and whispered, "You're mental."

"Ridiculous," the girl said faintly, gripping the redhead's hand.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead. You killed him twelve years ago!" Harry shouted.

Black bared yellow teeth as he shook his head in denial. "I meant to," he growled, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though."

Black lunged at the redhead, making the boy cry out in pain as he landed on the broken leg. They grappled with each other, fighting over a squirming grey form as Harry and the girl tried to pull the maniac off their friend, fighting off the ginger cat, who had joined the fray as well. Severus could only look on helplessly.

With a shout of triumph, Black pulled away from the three children and held up a sickly looking grey rat.

"You see, James, Peter and I were Animagi, and Peter's form is a rat. When I saw that picture of your family in the Daily Prophet, I recognised him immediately. Clever bastard, hiding out with a Wizarding family –"

"There were witnesses who saw him die," Harry protested. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw." Black replied savagely, and he shook the squirming rat that was clawing and biting at his hand, desperately trying to escape. "He cut off his finger and turned into a rat, scuttling down into the sewers while the place went to hell. That's how I recognised him, the missing toe. I can show you."

He threw the rat on the floor and pointed his wand at the dazed creature. A flash of blue-white light erupted from the wand Black was holding, and there was another blinding flash of light when it hit the twisting form. The rat writhed in the grip of that light, and then a head started to shoot up, arms and legs shot out from its small body. In a matter of seconds, a short man with thin blond hair was crouching on the floor where the rat had been. The three children stared at the man in horror, and Severus could already see that they were starting to believe.

Severus sagged against the restraints of the spell. He tried not to listen to Black's explanation, tried not to listen to him convince Harry and the two others that he was speaking the truth, _that he was innocent_. Harry managed to stop Black from killing Pettigrew, but only just. Severus tried not to hear the boy's arguments, that they needed Peter alive to help them acquit Black. He did not want to watch Black give the children back their wands, except for Harry's. The boy insisted Black keep it for the moment, to make sure Peter did not escape.

Harry and the girl helped the redhead up, splinted his leg and then the odd procession started to leave. Harry paused in the doorway, and glanced back at Severus.

"Sirius?"

Black stopped, and his grip on Pettigrew's neck tightened cruelly – no matter that the small man was already body bound.

"Who is that? He seems to know you."

Black glanced at Severus, and he narrowed his eyes hatefully for a moment before plastering on an indifferent face and shrugging. "Just a ghost. The shack's always been haunted, hasn't it, _Shrieking_ _Sev_? Come on, we must hurry. We will need to find a way into the castle and to Dumbledore without running into any of the Dementors."

And they left. They left the Shack, left Severus caught in Black's spell. He heard the murmur of their voices down the stair and to the trapdoor, Black revealing that he was Harry's godfather. The last thing he heard was a whisper twisting up from the tunnel to the bedroom above.

"Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Silence returned and Severus did not even bother fighting against the spell that held him. He stared at the empty room and waited. When the spell expired, sliding off him like melted snow, he was too exhausted to rage and shriek. He was but a ghost, trapped and helpless. There was nothing he could do. His lips twisted bitterly, and he passed through the floor and ceiling down to the Shack's main room. The trapdoor was back in its place, covering the hole in the floor.

*~*

Sir Nicholas appeared two days later. His face was grim as he shared the news of what had happened. That Black was still at large, but Pettigrew was in Ministry custody, and the Daily Prophet had already put out an article revealing Black's innocence in betraying the Potters. There was to be a new trial, and though it would probably take a year, no one doubted that Black would be acquitted.

"I knew he was here. I called for you, for Dumbledore, but I couldn't... And now he goes free yet again..."

"I am so sorry, Severus."

They were silent for a while.

"This year... After the basilisk, when Dumbledore did not warn you that I was petrified, and now this... It is wrong that Dumbledore has confined you to this place, Severus. It always has been, and I regret going along with this farce for so long. You are a Hogwarts ghost, and you deserve the respect and freedom each of us has."

Severus looked at Sir Nicholas questioningly, taken aback by the other ghost's serious face.

"Our loyalty to Dumbledore only goes so far. First and foremost, we are loyal to Hogwarts. I have told Joseph the truth about who you are and how you got here. He agrees with me, and I will be calling a meeting with the other ghosts over the summer holidays, while Dumbledore is away. He does not know everything that goes on at Hogwarts. We will find a way to right this, Severus, I promise you."

Sir Nicholas looked at him earnestly and then gripped Severus' arm, pulling him into a tight embrace. Severus closed his eyes and pressed his face against the ruffle of his friend's collar, as he tried to let himself hope.


	6. Hope

**6. Hope**

If Severus had hoped that revealing the truth to Hogwarts' other ghosts would mean a speedy end to his situation, he would have been disappointed. With the exception of Nicholas and Joseph, the other ghosts still felt themselves bound by the headmaster's decisions, even this one. They kept their silence with regard to Nicholas' rebellion though, and joined the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff ghosts on the occasional visit to the Shrieking Shack. However, they were too caught up in their own woes and Hogwarts gossip to get involved. They had been killed or died in a wrongful manner – their memories slighted so that they lingered in the world of the living – and to them Severus' plight was no more urgent than theirs just because it was more recent.

Solidarity between ghosts only went so far, and that was not much farther than it would have in life.

The Bloody Baron floated through the trapdoor every now and then. He did not speak, just stared at Severus while Severus stared back, and then left, not having said a word.

Nicholas raged at their indifference, no matter that Severus reassured him repeatedly that it was all right, that he knew it was not Nicholas' fault, that he was grateful just to have Nicholas and Joseph as his friends. He knew that they were doing their best, and he appreciated it. But the reality was, short of approaching Dumbledore and miraculously managing to change his mind, there was little they could do. Neither Nicholas nor Joseph had been wizards, so the chance that they might hear or learn a way for Severus to escape the spells that bound him to the Shack by sitting on in any of the classes was negligible.

Perhaps enough time had passed for Severus took that summer's disappointment better than he thought he would have. He wondered whether he had finally come to terms with his fate, or whether he had just given up what was essentially a fight he could not win: the rules dictated by Dumbledore, and unhesitatingly changed to ensure Severus would always lose.

To distract both himself and his friends from his situation, Severus asked them to tell him about Harry Potter and what was happening in Hogwarts and the Wizarding World.

The summer was filled with near daily reports on the chaos and scandal at the Ministry of Magic that Peter Pettigrew's capture caused. Aurors had questioned Pettigrew under Veritaserum and he had confessed to having been the Potter's secret keeper and framing Sirius Black for the murder of twelve Muggles. The transcripts were somehow leaked to the press. Yet still the Ministry prevaricated. The Daily Prophet and other publications demanded for more convictions to be re-examined because quite a number of Azkaban's inmates from that time had been sentenced without a proper trial or due process. Now that Voldemort had been gone for nearly thirteen years the Wizarding World finally seemed ready to deal with its past.

Two weeks into the summer holiday, Black came out of hiding and turned himself over to the Ministry, only to be immediately released into Dumbledore's custody until the final pardon came through. Nicholas told him that, in an interview with Witch Weekly, Black had announced he would be suing for custody of Harry Potter, which he had been granted to him under the late Potters' will. Before anything could be done about that, though, Pettigrew escaped.

It was unclear how exactly that could have happened, and the Ministry's spokespeople were vague in their answers and explanations. Black disappeared, leaving a note saying that he would find and this time kill the traitorous rat. 

Once Hogwarts was back in session and Dumbledore was once more present, Nicholas and Joseph couldn't spend as much time with Severus as they had over the summer holiday, and that wasn't exactly made up for by Peeves' discovery of Severus. He had followed them one night, and now regularly made his way to the shack to sing annoying songs that the Gryffindors had made up to torment him when he was a student. Nicholas and Joseph both worried that Peeves might betray them to Dumbledore, either intentionally or by accident, and even went to the Bloody Baron, but it would seem that though Peeves himself was not a ghost, he did adhere to the same loyalty. Amazingly, he was careful to attract no attention on his trips to the Shack, although all discretion was abandoned once he arrived at his destination to taunt and annoy Severus.

The endless repetition of 'Snivelly Snapey, Weepy Baby' bothered Severus, but on the other hand, Peeves' treatment gave him a sense of normality, an even stronger sense of belonging to Hogwarts and being just one more of its ghosts, despite his exile to this godforsaken shack.

The year passed slowly but steadily, bearable because of his friend's regular visits. Harry Potter somehow managed to be selected as Hogwarts' second champion in the Tournament, and passed both the first and the second task with near perfect scores. The papers seemed to have forgotten Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew entirely, and Nicholas could only tell Severus that Harry still occasionally received letters from his godfather. However, in the week leading up to the third task, events rapidly followed each other.

Sirius Black showed up on the Ministry's doorstep carrying the corpse of his one time school friend. The Ministry tried to cover it up, and so the details on how and where Black had caught Pettigrew were confused. Black was arrested, and Dumbledore was still bargaining for his release on the day of the third task. The general state of confusion in the Wizarding World spiralled out of control when, grasping the goblet with Hogwarts' other champion Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter disappeared. He had returned a few hours later, bruised and bleeding, carrying the Diggory boy's corpse and claiming that You-Know-Who had been resurrected.

Nicholas told Severus this that evening, while Harry Potter was still in the school infirmary recovering. He and Joseph took turns in updating Severus on the sequence of events that followed. 

Minister Fudge gave an interview that evening to the Daily Prophet, slandering Harry Potter: he said that the boy was mentally ill and implied that Harry might be responsible for Diggory's death. However, general Wizarding consensus was that Fudge was covering something up, trying to keep the public ignorant. The next day Owls and Howlers calling for Fudge's resignation flocked to the Ministry. Trying to placate the Wizarding population as the year before, Fudge released Black with a full pardon, granting him custody of his godson Harry Potter. 

Severus was not very interested in Wizarding politics, but aside from the fact that Sirius Black had indeed assumed custody of Harry Potter and taken him away by flying motorcycle at the end of the school year rather than leave Harry on the Hogwarts Express, there was little else for Nicholas and Joseph to report. The two other ghosts told him all about the procession of Order members on broomsticks that had accompanied Harry and Black on their flight to London, and that Dumbledore was seldom at the school all summer: instead he was busy dealing with matters at the Wizengamot and You-Know-Who's possible resurrection. 

After a group of known Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban, taking with them all of Azkaban's Dementors, Dumbledore had summoned all of Hogwarts' ghosts to his office and impressed upon them the need to be vigilant and report any unusual activity to him. Fortunately, this time he did not decide that cutting off all contact between Nicholas and Severus was necessary. Either the headmaster had learnt his lesson, or he had simply forgotten about that particular skeleton in his closet.

The first day of September arrived, and Severus floated through the shack in solitude. Nicholas was up at the castle, and would probably not have time to visit him over the next few days as he dealt with all the new arrivals. Severus thought about the antics of the living, and the dark wizard Voldemort being able to return from the dead. His mind briefly wandered to Harry Potter, whom he had seen only twice, but the memory of whom he could not shake for some reason. These thoughts inevitably led to thoughts of Sirius Black, who, pardoned and free and honoured, had been made Harry's guardian, while Severus, two decades later, was still damned, imprisoned and forgotten.

Severus shrieked and let the memory of the werewolf claw his back, maul his leg, his arm, his hand, and tear out his throat.

Severus came back to himself, with the echoes of his screams still echoing through the Shack, to find wide green eyes staring at him in horror from behind round, wire-rim glasses.

In the distance, the Hogwarts Express blew its whistle, announcing its arrival at Hogsmeade's platform. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and the ghost of Severus Snape stood silently staring at each other in the Shrieking Shack's main room.


	7. Safe Haven I

And here it is: the final, complete, and beta'd version of Ghosts. Some changes have been made to the previous six chapters that I had already posted. Nothing major, so reading them again is not necessary, but I do recommend it so that you don't miss out on some of the changes and foreshadowing that I've added. As I've mentioned in the author notes in chapter one, this is the companion piece to another ghost story: Albus/Severus and rated nc-17. It shares the same premise and title (kinda), and you can find it on my homepage (just check the link in my profile).

I hope you all enjoy this story. It's been quite an ordeal to write it, I can tell you that. Thank you for all your reviews, and please let me know what you think of the end result. If you would like a reply, make sure I can find your email either in your profile or put it in the review. Now, on with the fic!

*~*

**7. Safe Haven I**

"You were at Nearly-Headless Nick's Death Day party, weren't you?" said Harry, finally breaking the silence. He was looking at Severus warily.

Severus nodded, still shocked silent by the boy's unexpected presence. Why was Harry here? Wouldn't Black have – Black. He rushed at the boy, hands trying to clasp the boy's arms and instead passing through them.

"Don't trust Black. He's a murderer, stay away from him. Don't believe his lies. Please, you have to believe me, Harry. Black's a murderer, _he_ did this to me and the headmaster let him. Dumbledore let them go unpunished and he's kept me trapped here ever since. I have been trapped here for more than twenty years!" Severus realised he was getting sidetracked, and he forced himself to calm down. This wasn't about him; he had to warn the boy.

Harry was backing away, and Severus followed him, trying to control himself and speak calmly as he kept his stigmata at bay.

"Black is dangerous, Harry. He has killed before – he killed me – and you saw that he was willing to murder again, that he has. Please believe me, ignore his lies. I don't know what he told you, but it's a lie. He lies and the headmaster lets him, lets him get away with murder."

Severus noticed that the boy had taken his wand out. He was backed against one of the walls, and while he wasn't pointing his wand at Severus yet... Severus backed away hastily. He didn't want to scare Harry, but he needed to tell him, needed to warn him.

"Harry –"

"What happened to you?" Harry whispered. His face was pale and it looked as if he were going to be sick. His fingers were white from gripping his wand forcefully; however, it still pointed downward at the floor. He was _listening_. Oh to finally have another person _listen_ to him.

"Black knew Lupin –"

"Oh my god," Harry turned away and pressed the back of his wand hand to his mouth, his eyes tightly shut and a distinct greenish tint to his cheeks.

Severus hesitated. He hadn't expected this reaction. He had thought the boy wouldn't believe him, would defend his godfather. He had spent the summer with charming, enigmatic Sirius Black –

"He hurt you. Black hurt you."

"No."

All of a sudden, Harry stood straight again, his wand pointing directly at Severus and there was a wild look in his eyes. His breathing was laboured, and he shook his head in denial. "Sirius didn't – Sirius would never hurt me; he didn't. He loves me. Sirius –" He took a deep breath and calmed himself, so that when he spoke again it was slow and determined.

"How did you die? Was it Remus? Was it Professor Lupin? Why are you here?"

Severus looked at the wand still pointing at him, and noted the boy's feverish look. He clenched his fists and summoned all his self-control. Be calm, just the facts; he's listening.

"I was in the same year as Black and Lupin, your father and Pettigrew too. The Gryffindors hated me because I was a Slytherin. They tormented and hexing me; they spread lies and made my life hell. I hexed them back, defended myself: but nothing more than green hair! I never did more than curse them boils and pimples, or hex your father's broom. Nothing like what Black did; he murdered me!"

_Calm down_.

"He – Black – Lupin is a werewolf. You have to stay away from him, both of them, he's a –"

"I know. What happened?"

Severus paused, surprised that the boy knew about Lupin's lycanthropy. But then again, he had seemed to understand before.

"I didn't know Lupin was a werewolf. I knew they were keeping a secret, and I wanted to find out, wanted to expose it. They were always up to no good, always out to get me, I –" _Calm down_. "Black told me to come here on the night of the full moon. He knew I would follow his 'instructions'. I thought it might be a prank, but I was – I thought I could handle anything, I didn't think he actually wanted me _dead_.

"It turned out this was where Lupin stayed for his transformations. He – I think he was surprised when he saw me, I don't think he knew, but he didn't do anything. He kept Dumbledore's secret, let Black go free. He –

"He killed me. The werewolf attacked me and bit me and tore my throat out and now I'm dead. But I came back, a ghost, and Dumbledore was waiting for me." Severus' voice became bitter. 

"He said he was sorry, said Black didn't mean it – but I know he did. Black wanted me dead and Dumbledore didn't punish him, just swept it all under the rug and covered it up. I cannot leave the Shack. I have been trapped here for nearly two decades, and my murderers have not seen justice. _I_ suffer for their crime and they go free. You must believe me, Harry. Black is dangerous. He's a murderer and he'll hurt you –"

"You're the reason why Remus believed Sirius betrayed my parents."

Severus fell silent. There was nothing left to say, and it seemed that Harry might believe him.

Harry suddenly turned away, scrubbing at his face with both hands. He made a choking sound that could have been a laugh or a sob.

"What a mess."

"Harry..." Severus hesitated. He didn't know what to make of Harry's reaction. "You have to watch out, Black is –"

Harry raised a hand and shook his head, silencing Severus again.

"Don't... I know, just – Don't. Please. I needed to get away. Just wanted some peace and quiet and – I don't want to talk about Sirius, just... I'll go." He put his wand away and headed back to the open trapdoor. 

Severus knew that if Harry left now he would never see the boy again. He didn't understand why, but he couldn't bear that thought. He tried to grasp Harry's shoulder, his hand passing through the other boy.

"No, stay. Please. I won't – We can talk about other things, or – Stay."

Harry hesitated for a long time, before finally giving a curt nod. He glanced around the room, and then sat down at the bottom of the stairs. Severus hovered close by, at a loss what to say or what to do. Harry seemed just as lost, and Severus wondered for the second time why the boy had come here. Wasn't he missing the Sorting? He would surely be missed, wouldn't he?

"Why did you come here?"

Harry sighed and leaned back against the stairs; he looked away and then back at Severus.

"I needed to get away. To be alone. And this was the only place I could think of that they wouldn't search for me, or be able to find me. And it's safe; I know the wards extend to here, but there's no chance of being disturbed. I have to be careful, I know that, but I'm just... Everybody keeps asking me how I feel, if I'm all right, and... I just needed to be alone."

Oh.

But he was still here, still in the Shack with Severus, and it didn't look like he was going to leave.

"Okay." A wry grin twisted Severus' lips. "My home is yours," he joked, extending the only hospitality he could.

Harry glanced around, looking at the empty and dirty room, the stained floors and walls, and chuckled.

"Thank you," he said in reply, and it didn't sound mocking at all.

Severus looked at Harry, drank in the sight of him. He was what... fourteen or fifteen now? Only a year younger than Severus had been when Black murdered him. If he concentrated he could indeed see the resemblance to James Potter, but it was less pronounced than two years ago. His mother was Lily Evans, wasn't she? Severus tried to remember, but could only vaguely recall some redheaded girl in... Ravenclaw? Or had she been a Hufflepuff?

After a while, Harry looked up from his brooding examination of the dirty floorboards and smiled briefly, then blatantly returned Severus' gaze, looking at the ghost. Again Severus felt that same thrill that he had two years ago during Nicholas' Death Day party: somebody – a live person, not another ghost, not indifferent Dumbledore – actually _saw_ him.

"You're a Slytherin, aren't you?"

Severus nodded. He remembered the bitter House rivalries, but Nicholas had shown him that it didn't have to be that way, and Harry hadn't seemed to care about that before.

"All the live Slytherins I know are absolute pricks." Harry snorted and shook his head. "You and the Bloody Baron don't seem too bad, though."

Severus chanced a grin in return. "I can't say my experiences with any living Gryffindors have been any better. You and Nicholas seem to be the exception to the rule."

This time Harry laughed, and he pushed himself up off the stairs.

"Thank you, Severus, wasn't it? I think I had better leave now, before anybody starts panicking about the Boy Who Lived disappearing," he added bitterly. 

Harry sighed and knelt by the trapdoor. "Thank you. I'll – It must be awful being trapped here all alone, for so long. If you don't mind, I would like to visit again, some time."

"Of course, you're welcome. If you want to be alone – It would be great to see you again."

Harry nodded, and a pained look came to his face as he eyed the tunnel leading back to the Whomping Willow and Hogwarts. He straightened his shoulders and nodded, seemingly bracing himself, then gave a small wave to Severus, 'bye', before climbing down into the tunnel and pulling the trapdoor back in place behind him.

Severus remained there for a long time, going over their conversation and Harry's smile and laugh in his mind.

hr

Some hours later Nicholas came floating through the trapdoor, already excited and telling Severus about Harry Potter's absence from the Sorting Feast. How Dumbledore and all the teachers had been searching the school when the boy finally reappeared.

"Nobody knows where he went; Dumbledore took him and Lupin up to his office, and the last I heard Harry had returned to his dorm. It caused quite a stir when he wasn't at the feast, and I think there are still some rumours going around that You-Know-Who somehow managed to abduct him. Oh well, that should be straightened out when they seem him in the Hall at breakfast tomorrow morning."

"He was here."

"What?"

Severus smiled, and then shrugged. "Harry was here. He said he wanted to be alone, to be away from people for a little while. 

"And I told him, Nicholas. I warned him, and he listened. He _believed_ me."

Nicholas returned Severus' smile.

"Do you think he can help you?"

Severus' smile faded and he bit his lip. "I didn't ask. Perhaps. But it doesn't matter. He listened to me when I warned him about Black and Lupin, and he said he would return. I didn't expect him to believe me, but he didn't defend Black at all. I'm worried. Why would he come out all this way just to be alone?"

"He has been having a difficult time lately, Severus. It's all the attention, I suppose. He is never left alone for fear he will be attacked by You-Know-Who, and he saw the Diggory boy die... But I am glad he listened and believed you, and I am sure he will aid our endeavours. Harry Potter is a true Gryffindor if I have ever met one." 

Nicholas had grasped Severus' hand, and Severus' smile returned at the faith the other ghost seemed to radiate. He didn't share that same confidence however. If Dumbledore had not changed his mind after two decades, he probably would not do so now just because Harry Potter asked him. Lupin was still teaching at the school; Black was a hero to the Light. Dumbledore would not want to risk his dirty little secret being exposed. In any case, Severus felt reluctant to involve Harry in this. It was clear that the other boy had enough troubles of his own without Severus adding to them.

Before he could comment on that, however, the trapdoor was pushed open and both ghosts spun around to see Dumbledore climbing through, and then dusting off his garish maroon robes. The sight of the Headmaster made Severus' temper flare, but he managed to stay in control, and not even the back of his robes was slashed open. Nicholas gave Severus' hand a tight squeeze for reassurance, then drew himself up to his full height, straightening the ruff around his throat and coolly returning the headmaster's gaze.

"Severus, Nicholas," the headmaster nodded. Nicholas gave the slightest incline of his head in return. Severus just glared, forcing down the anger and frustration.

"Severus, I have spoken with Harry Potter."

Severus gritted his teeth and looked at Dumbledore without blinking. He was this close to losing control, filled with frustration and fear of what Dumbledore might do, and that he would not be able to defend himself.

"You told him about the accident, told him that Sirius was involved." From the tone of the headmaster's voice, it was clear that he was not pleased with this development at all.

"Accident?" Severus shrieked, and he moved toward the headmaster, his hands stretching out like claws. Nicholas' hand on his shoulder stopped him. Severus could feel his blood trickling down the ragged furrows on his back, soaking into his student robes. 

"Is that what you tell yourself it was, Dumbledore?" This time Severus managed an angry whisper, and he clenched his hands into fists. "Black _murdered_ me, and we both know it. You covered it up.

"As for my telling Harry _the_ _truth_: he asked me. And he has a right to be warned that his godfather is a murderous lying son –"

"I will not have you coming between Harry and Sirius, Severus," Dumbledore interrupted. "Harry has had little love and affection in his life, and I will not have you tainting the relationship with his godfather. I have spoken to Harry, and explained why you are here and why the details of your death must be kept a secret. He has agreed to maintain that silence."

Dumbledore paused for a moment. Severus knew there was more to come, and it would only get worse. And while he hadn't truly expected for Harry to come to his defence, hearing that he agreed with Dumbledore on keeping Severus' existence and death a secret... _You only have Dumbledore's word for that though. He listened to you_.

"However, since it is now clear that merely confining you to the Shack is insufficient to keep this secret, I see no other path than to reinstate the geas I placed on you two years ago." Dumbledore drew his wand and Severus could only watch in horror. It would do no good to run: where could he run to?

"Here now, Dumbledore," Nicholas interrupted angrily, moving between the headmaster and the other ghost. "This can't be necessary; I am sure there is some other way –"

"Sir Nicholas, please step aside. Too much depends on keeping what happened that sad night twenty years ago a secret. Remus Lupin's life is the least of it."

"But a _geas_ –"

"Sir Nicholas..."

"Nick. Nick, please." It was Severus' turn to grasp Nicholas' arm and pull him aside, out of the way of Dumbledore's wand. "It's all right."

It wasn't all right. It wasn't anywhere close to all right, but there was no way they would ever change Dumbledore's mind, and if Nicholas protested too much, Dumbledore might do the same to him.

Clearly unhappy, Nicholas looked at Severus, and then gave a curt nod, before turning away, as if unable to witness what the headmaster was about to do.

Dumbledore ignored Nicholas and waved his wand, speaking the words to bind Severus. It was worse than Severus remembered it; he felt suffocated as his secret – his reason for being – was locked away inside him. It was a prison within a prison, and there was no way left to express that essential part of himself.

"Sir Nicholas, I am going to have to ask you to reaffirm the oath you took not to reveal Severus' presence or secrets to anyone, living or dead."

Severus was vaguely aware of the headmaster and Nicholas talking, but he was too preoccupied with the suffocating feeling of claustrophobia. When he finally took note of his surroundings again, he realised that Nicholas was calling his name, holding his arms tightly.

"Severus? Severus, are you okay? Severus, talk to me."

There was no sign of Dumbledore, and the trapdoor was back in its place.

"Nicholas –"

It must have come out all wrong, because all of a sudden Nicholas had thrown his arms around him and was pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Oh Merlin, Severus, the bastard, the fucking bastard. I took the oath, but my word to him means nothing, I swear to you, it means _nothing_."

Severus didn't answer, just clung to the other ghost. He could feel the rage and anger bottled up deep inside him, impotent and useless. His ghostly body couldn't even manifest the wounds of his death any more.

Nicholas remained with Severus until the light of dawn, by which time he had to leave and return to Gryffindor. He promised to come back as soon as possible and that he would tell the others, oath to Dumbledore be damned. They would have to be very careful to prevent the headmaster from discovering this mutiny. Severus just nodded numbly, and then drifted aimlessly through the shack. There was nothing else he could do. 

As the hours passed, a few of the other ghosts made a brief appearance. An unusually solemn Joseph stopped by and appeared as distressed as Nicholas had been. The Bloody Baron visited after dusk, again just looking at Severus until he left without a word. Even Peeves turned up, for once not taunting or singing rude songs. The poltergeist seemed taken aback by the geas Dumbledore had placed upon Severus, perhaps coming to the realisation that if the headmaster could do this to a ghost, he could inflict the same upon a poltergeist.

The day passed and another dawned, and Severus despaired at keeping his sanity. Not only was he trapped at the place of his murder, he could no longer even express his despair or anger at either, even to himself. 

He desperately tried to distract himself. The only thing that worked was thinking about Harry Potter. He remembered every little thing Nicholas had ever told him about the boy, remembered seeing him for the first time nearly two years ago, remembered the recognition in the other boy's eyes when he saw him a year later, remembered the boy's smile and laugh. 

He tried not to think about the boy's promise to visit him again, tried not to hope. Dumbledore would have forbidden it, and why would Harry even want to?

However, that afternoon, the trapdoor was pushed open, and a head of messy black hair and bespectacled green eyes peered into the shack, before the boy threw his book bag through the hole and climbed up after it. He dropped a shimmering cloth on the floor and looked at Severus.

"I needed somewhere quiet and private to study, needed to get away. Dumbledore said it was all right as long as I warned Remus – Professor Lupin, where I am."

Severus was silent, still trying to accept that Harry had actually returned.

"Is it all right with you?"

"Yes. Yes, of course. Please, you're welcome here."

Harry smiled tentatively and then settled on the floor, pulling out a thick tome but not yet opening it.

"Nick told me what happened, what Dumbledore did," he finally whispered, before looking up at Severus. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

"It's not your fault," Severus said, and he settled on the floor beside Harry. He searched for something to say, something that the damned geas would let him say, and then waved at the tome with his hand. "Perhaps I can help you with your homework?"

Harry looked aside at him with a small smile, before making a face at the thick dark tome in front of them.

"Sure, thanks. Were you ever any good at Potions?"


	8. The Kiss

**8. The Kiss**

Severus became accustomed to the geas, as he had to his death and subsequent confinement. He was dead and he was trapped in the Shrieking Shack, and there was nothing that he could do to change that. If it were not for Nicholas and Joseph's visits though, Severus doubted he would have been able to retain any degree of sanity. The two other ghosts did their best to distract Severus, both vowing that they would do all they could to find a way for Severus to escape both the geas and his prison.

Harry Potter's visits were an even more effective distraction from Severus' current predicament. Harry came to the shack on average three times a week. He would spend most of his weekends in the dirty front room of the Shack, on the floor with Severus, his textbooks spread about him. During the week he would sometimes appear late in the evening, dressed in his Quidditch gear and still sweaty from practice, and they would just sit there as he idly talked about the latest match and team issues. 

The closest that Harry came to admitting that things were wrong and life was not great was a brief mention that he was not allowed off Hogwarts' grounds to visit Hogsmeade on the weekends, and that he did not want to spend his Saturdays trapped in the castle with only the first and second years. This of course did not explain the fact that Harry spent his Sundays in the Shack with Severus as well.

Conversation between them was light or study related. The geas prevented Severus from mentioning his death or Black, and Harry seemed unwilling to talk about whatever was on his mind. He talked about his best friends, Ron and Hermione, but did not mention why he apparently no longer felt able to spend time or talk with them. Severus didn't want to ask for fear of driving Harry away. That first time Harry had visited he had mentioned that he wanted to get away from people, wanted to be alone and not have to deal with questions of how he was doing and whether he was all right, and so Severus did not ask, only listened.

It did not stop Severus from wondering though. If Ron and Hermione were such good friends, why would they let Harry hide from them like this? What had they done that he could no longer trust them? Why did Dumbledore allow Harry to just disappear like this? Harry had said that he had to warn Lupin whenever he went to the Shack. Severus wondered whether Ron and Hermione knew where Harry went, wondered what Lupin thought of Harry spending so much time with Severus. And what about Black? Did Black know that Harry used his invisibility cloak to slip across the grounds and then make his way through the passage from the Whomping Willow?

He got a few answers from Nicholas. The staff and Harry's friends had been informed that he was spending that time training, in secret, and that they were not to interfere or follow Harry. Severus did not understand this lie, and given that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were once more on the loose, he would expect that Dumbledore would indeed want to use this time to train Harry. Instead, Harry spent his weekends doing homework with Severus, and talking about nothing important at all.

Nicholas told him that Dumbledore seemed to be avoiding Harry. Severus hoped it was because Harry had become angry with the headmaster, hoped that it was because of him, because of what Black had done. However, Harry never mentioned Dumbledore, and in the end, it didn't make any difference to Severus' situation. He was just grateful that Harry was allowed to visit and did so.

Nicholas also said he did not believe Black was aware of this arrangement. Black was away on business for the Order, and he sent Harry letters weekly. They would arrive during breakfast, the owls often carrying a package for Harry as well.

"He never opens the letters at the table, or the packages. Yesterday morning, his friend Weasley, the boy, kept urging him to show to him what Black had sent him, and the third time he asked Harry sprung up and shouted that it was none of anybody's business and to just leave him alone," Nicholas said one evening, three weeks into term. "He stormed out of the hall and turned up late for class, costing Gryffindor five points. He sent the package back with a note, but it just arrived again this morning. Turned out it was the latest Nimbus. All four Weasleys and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team dragged him out onto the pitch for the evening, so that they could all have a go. I doubt he'll have time to visit you tonight."

Nicholas paused and looked gravely at Severus.

"Something is not right with young Harry, and they all – his teachers, his friends, the headmaster – seem blind to it."

Severus had agreed, but there was no way he could ask Harry. He didn't want to drive Harry away, and if that 'something not right' had anything to do with Black, the geas prevented Severus from asking Harry about it anyway.

So they spent their time doing Harry's homework and talking about inconsequential things. Reading the student textbooks and helping Harry with his assignments brought back long lost memories of Severus' time before his death. Severus was surprised by how much of it he still remembered and frustrated by the fact that he could never learn again. At least, not while he was trapped here in the Shrieking Shack. He was a ghost, and thus unable to affect the physical world. He couldn't even turn the page of a book, for Merlin's sake. 

Harry found a solution to that problem, however. He discovered a charm that, cast upon a book, made it turn its own pages when commanded to do so. The charm worked for wizards, squibs, Muggles, and apparently ghosts alike. It didn't work on every book, though, as magical tomes often have a will of their own, but Harry managed to charm most of his school texts, and a number of library books that he had somehow convinced Madam Pince to let him take out of the library. At Severus' request, Harry brought him mostly Potions texts, and he was reminded of how much he had loved to brew and experiment.

Hogwarts' current Potions master was apparently some brainless twit who taught his students the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, and ended up having to send on average ten students a week to Madam Pomfrey for healing. It was a wonder any students kept studying Potions after their OWLs, but Harry had explained the Ministry required NEWT level Potions to enter Auror training. Severus did his best to show Harry the beauty of potions, as much as he could from dry text alone, and he did manage to spark some interest in the boy. Harry's grades went up, and after he finished the assignments for his other classes, Harry would often join Severus in reading whatever tome he had managed to beg from Madam Pince, discussing the text with the ghost.

It was all theory though, and there was no hope that Severus would ever be able to brew a potion again. Severus didn't know if ghosts were even capable of performing magic. None of Hogwarts' ghosts had been wizards during their lifetime, and all Severus' attempts had been fruitless. Perhaps if he had a wand it would be different. But Severus had no idea where his wand was, and even if he did, how could he hold it? The most Severus could achieve was to cause gooseflesh. 

It was sweet torment to read the Potions texts with Harry, to show him the proper wand movements for a shielding spell, and know that he would never again brew a potion or cast a spell.

When Nicholas found out about the books Harry left with Severus, and the charms he had rigged up so that Severus could read them, he tried to convince Severus to involve Harry in their search for a way to undo the geas and help him escape the Shack. Severus remained reluctant. On the one hand, he did realise that if Harry helped them they would have a much better chance at success, but at the same time, Severus did not want to burden Harry with his own troubles. Even if Harry was determined to not speak of them and pretend that life was just dandy, it was obvious that this was not the case. Besides, Severus did not dare risk Harry getting in trouble with Dumbledore, or the headmaster forbidding his visits.

As Hallowe'en neared and then passed, Harry's mood and behaviour became more erratic, which only strengthened Severus' resolve not to bother Harry. Some visits Harry would be cheerful and chatter about everything and nothing, then suddenly he would elapse into a sullen silence that Severus did not dare disturb. A lot of the time, he seemed distracted and nervous. He began asking strange questions, finally also remarking on the dark things that troubled him.

He mentioned that Dumbledore was avoiding him, and whenever they did cross paths, the headmaster would not look him in the eye. Harry told Severus about the disturbing dreams he had, when it seemed as if he were looking through Voldemort's eyes. He could never remember them for long, except for a strong and lingering feeling of dread that Voldemort was planning something. When he spoke, Harry stared down at whatever he was supposed to be reading or writing. He spoke quickly and nervously, mumbling the words to himself, and Severus did not dare interrupt nor do anything other than listen to the other boy.

However, one weekday evening near the end of November, Harry looked up from the Transfiguration essay he was working on, and broke the silent pact they had had not to talk about Black. Until then Harry's rambling confessions and worries had not once touched on anything that might lead to talk of his godfather.

"Severus." Harry bit his lip, but for once did not look away. He hesitated a moment longer before continuing. "Can you talk about Sirius at all?"

Severus hesitated then nodded. "Yes, I think so. Just not –"

And the geas seemed to cut off Severus' air supply, which was ridiculous because he was a ghost and didn't breathe. The rage and despair clawed inside him, unable to get out.

Harry was looking down at the half-empty parchment in front of him again, idly twirling his quill.

"You went to school with him and my parents, my father and Remus and... Pettigrew. Do you – Can you remember – Were Sirius and my father involved with each other?"

Severus stared at Harry, who was once again avoiding his gaze. He knew what Harry meant by Sirius and James being 'involved with each other', but why Harry would ask such a question was beyond him.

"Um. I don't think so, or at least not when I was still alive. They were very close, best friends, with Lupin and Pettigrew tagging along, but... I don't know. I think Sirius had a crush on one of the Gryffindor girls, or at least, the girls were always following the two of them around. You could ask Lupin."

Harry's knuckles turned white around his quill for a moment at that last remark, and Severus' voice trailed off. "Why do you ask?"

Harry was silent, then shrugged and flipped through the pages of his Transfiguration text. "Can you explain the reptile-mammal sequence to me again?"

Severus' fears were only aggravated by the story Nicholas had to tell later that night about what had happened in Gryffindor before Harry came to the Shrieking Shack.

"I was conversing with Violet after dinner when McGonagall stopped by to take the names of those who plan to stay on over the Christmas break. I followed her into the common room: it is always good to know which of the little ones will be staying so I can keep an eye on them, keep them company. About four of the students signed up, three first years and one of the seventh.

"Then young Harry came down from his dorm and tried to sign up as well."

Nicholas paused at this apparently ominous event before continuing.

"Harry has so far always spent Christmas at Hogwarts, rather than going back to those horrid Muggles. But Black is his guardian now, and I had overheard Dumbledore and Lupin saying that he would be given leave from his tasks for the Order to spend the holiday with Harry at Grimmauld Place. _Harry knew this_. McGonagall pointed it out, but he still said he would rather stay at Hogwarts.

"By then the Weasley boy and Miss Granger, who had been sitting in a corner, joined them and asked why Harry did not want to spend the holiday with Black, and said that they'd heard there was going to be a grand feast on Christmas Eve with all the Weasleys and the Order. He became very agitated, and stormed away up the stairs to his dorm. Weasley followed him, and I heard angry voices until he came back down with his book bag and that cloak of his and left. Harry came here?"

Severus nodded.

Harry didn't mention Black again, and seemed to focus entirely on his homework and Severus' Potions studies. Two weeks before the end of term, however, Harry pushed his last History of Magic essay away and sat back in the raggedy old couch he had transfigured from his satchel. The first couple of times the transfiguration hadn't lasted, and the couch had reverted back all of a sudden. They had laughed, and now, after those first tries, the charm could hold for nearly an entire day.

Harry pushed off his shoes as he lay flat out on the couch, feet dangling off one end as he idly twirled his wand in his hand.

"What's it like being dead? Being a ghost?" Harry asked, then turned his face to Severus with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Or if you can't?"

Severus felt nervous and uneasy, feeling the very edge of the geas asserting itself. 

"It's –" Severus paused and tried to think of what it felt like to be a ghost, to be dead. Frustrating, that certainly, but was that just because of his situation? Would he be more at peace with his limitations if he were free to roam Hogwarts like the other ghosts? "It's –" Severus tried to put the feeling of detachment to words, the loss of urgency that certain things had held when he was still alive. But had they not merely obliterated by the fact that he had been wronged in death and after? "It's –" Severus struggled.

"It's all right, sorry," Harry said, and he shifted onto his side, dangling one hand to the floor and trailing his fingertips through the dust.

Severus watched the other boy. While he supposed it wasn't an extremely strange question to ask, Severus didn't think he liked Harry's sudden interest in death. And it would seem that Harry wasn't through with his questions yet.

"Can I ask you, and I know it's very personal and you don't have to answer. What do you miss most, what do you regret missing most now that you're a ghost?"

It was a cruel question, but Severus knew Harry didn't mean it that way. These past few months with Harry had served to remind Severus of the things he had missed out on and would never experience again, although he wouldn't have given up the time spent with Harry for anything.

"I miss Potions," Severus answered, moving his fingers through the pages of the tome in front of him. "I miss being able to brew them, miss experimenting, miss casting spells and hexing –" The geas choked off Severus' reply and he changed subject. 

"I miss drinking pumpkin juice, and those little chocolate tarts the house elves occasionally make for desert." Harry chuckled and Severus smiled in response before continuing. "I regret that I'll never have sex," Severus said, laughing, although upon reflection it wasn't funny at all. "I've never even kissed," he added in a whisper, no longer smiling.

Harry was still looking at him, a contemplative look on his face. "I've never kissed either," he confided in a similar whisper, and there was something about the way Harry was looking at him that made Severus feel jittery. He couldn't help noticing the way Harry's hair was mussed up, as usual, and that his robes were rumpled. His fingers were dirty and dusty, and his glasses seemed to make his green eyes even larger.

"Perhaps," Harry said, and he pushed himself upright. "Perhaps we can kiss each other?"

Severus watched dumbfounded as Harry slid off the couch and then crawled over the floor to where Severus was sitting. There was a shy smile on Harry's lips, and when he reached Severus, he pushed his glasses up a bit. "Can I kiss you, Severus?"

"I'm a ghost, you can't even touch me. How are we supposed to kiss?"

"Well, we can at least try. I'd like to. If you want to, that is."

Severus looked away nervously. Harry was so close he imagined he could feel the other boy's life force, but that was probably just his imagination. Kiss Harry?

"Yes."

Harry leaned forward, lips slightly puckered, and Severus kept very still. When their lips touched, or would have, he felt a spark of warmth. It was a little like those few times he'd tried to touch a living person, Dumbledore, Black, Harry, but _more so_. Harry moved slightly, and their lips were no longer touching, instead they shared the same space. Severus closed his eyes.

He could feel Harry parting his lips slightly. For a moment, Severus thought he would be sucked in with Harry's breath, but then Harry was sighing into his mouth, sighing into Severus, and it was the closest he had come to feeling as if he had cast a charm or hex since his death. Severus opened his eyes again, and he was startled to see how much Harry's pupils had dilated, leaving only a thin sliver of green. He quickly backed away, ending the kiss.

Harry actually swayed forward, trying to follow Severus. He caught himself with one hand on the floor and blinked furiously. Severus could see that Harry's lips were tinged blue and perspiration was forming on his brow and temples.

"Are you all right?" His hand passed through Harry's shoulder, and Severus yanked it away again, realising that that kind of contact would hardly help Harry. He was already cursing himself, what had he been thinking?

"Severus. Severus, it's all right, I'm okay."

Harry moved his right hand into the same space Severus' occupied, the closest they would ever get to holding hands. "I'm all right. It was just... a bit of a rush I guess." He smiled reassuringly and Severus nodded slowly.

"You're sure?"

Harry smiled, opened and closed his hand, as if squeezing Severus'. "I'm sure." He glanced away, biting his lip.

"Did you like it?"

Did he like it? His first kiss, and it had been with Harry. Even if he hadn't been able to touch the other boy properly, it had still felt like magic.

"Yes," he whispered in reply. 

Harry smiled again. "Good."

For a while, they just sat there together in silence, which for the first time since Harry had come to the Shack to see Severus felt awkward and uncomfortable. Severus wanted to ask whether Harry had enjoyed the kiss, but didn't dare. He _thought_ Harry had. He wanted to ask whether they could do it again.

Harry coughed and pulled his hand away, all of a sudden filled with action as he quickly gathered his books and parchments. He changed the couch back into a satchel with a flick of his wand and stuffed his belongings inside. "It's getting late, and I should go back now."

Severus straightened up, nodding in response. He watched as Harry slung his bag over one shoulder and then pulled the trapdoor open. "I'll see you soon."

"Yes. Bye."

But Harry was already gone again, the trapdoor falling back in its place.

*~*

Severus didn't know what to think about what they'd done, or Harry's sudden and hasty retreat. He was on edge and distracted when Nicholas appeared some hours later. He knew that Nicholas had noticed that something was wrong, but Severus didn't want to talk about it, and the other ghost took the hint. 

However, the rest of the week passed, and Harry did not come to see him again. It was late Sunday evening, and still there was no sign of Harry. As every hour passed Severus became more and more agitated, and by the time Nicholas came to visit on Monday – the last Monday before the Christmas holidays – Severus was a near wreck and couldn't keep it a secret any longer.

"I kissed Harry last Wednesday. Is he all right? Have you seen him? His lips turned blue. He started to sweat, and I think he was shaking: did I hurt him? Is it harmful for us to touch the living that way, for so long?"

Nicholas put his hand on Severus' shoulder and gave a quick reassuring squeeze. "I saw Harry just today. I don't know why he hasn't been to see you. As for kissing him," the other ghost hesitated. "He's all right, I don't think you can harm him _physically_. But it's not good for the two of you to get involved like this, it can't go anywhere. No, listen to me, Severus."

Severus had pushed away Nicholas' hand and retreated to a corner of the room.

"Severus, you are a ghost and Harry is alive. A friendship is all good and well, but you can't –"

"I can't do a lot of things," Severus snapped, but then he gentled his expression and looked at Nicholas apologetically.  "It doesn't matter anyway; he's obviously changed his mind and isn't coming back."

He could hear Nicholas sigh. The Gryffindor ghost stood behind him, resting his hands on Severus' shoulders.

"I'll speak to Harry."

"No!" Severus whirled around. "No, don't. If Harry no longer wants to see me or come here, that's his decision. It's all right."

Nicholas frowned. "Very well." He paused, then changed the subject. "I have spoken to Peeves, and I think he might be willing and able to help us get those books from the library."

*~*

However, Harry did return. After Severus had given up hope, and no longer saw any point in cursing himself for kissing Harry, for obviously upsetting and scaring away one of the only three friends he had. 

It was late Friday afternoon, and Nicholas had told Severus that Lupin would be taking Harry with him to Grimmauld Place early in the evening. Dumbledore would be leaving the school later in the evening, and was not expected to return until after Christmas. This would hopefully give Severus, Nicholas and Joseph more freedom to try and find a way to break the spells binding Severus. With Harry's desertion, Severus had thrown himself into the few feeble plans they were able to come up with, desperately trying to distract himself from both the geas and the fact he had driven Harry away. The fact Harry had left him.

But all of a sudden the trapdoor was flung open, and a flushed and out-of-breath Harry Potter hauled himself into the Shack. He didn't hesitate, just walked straight up to Severus and moved his face close to Severus', his lips into Severus'. Warmth infused Severus everywhere Harry touched and moved through him. He found himself trying to embrace the other boy, his arms dipping into Harry's shoulders as his lips dipped into Harry's mouth.

Severus was the one to end the kiss this time as well. He stepped back, out of Harry's reach, and raised his hand between them when Harry tried to follow him.

"Where were you? Why didn't you come? Do you know how worried I was that I'd messed things up and _hurt_ you."

"I'm sorry, Severus, I'm sorry." Harry tried to catch his hand, but Severus evaded him. "I got cold feet. It was – I didn't know what I was thinking or feeling. I know I should have told you, should at least have warned you, but I needed to think. Severus." He had cornered Severus, the only route of escape through Harry. Which, while tempting and actually an option, wasn't the right thing to do just now.

"I'm sorry, I really am." Harry looked at the floor and the scuffed noses of his shoes. "I kissed Neville."

"What?"

"No, wait, listen. I had to try, see what it was like, if it was just you."

Severus had folded his arms in front of his chest and was glaring coldly at Harry now. Not only had his 'friend' deserted him for more than a week, he'd been out kissing other boys while Severus worried that he'd hurt him or driven him away.

"It didn't mean anything. I tried and it was _wet_. Nothing like what we did. I don't want Neville, or anybody else, just you. I'm sorry that I left you here, and now I'll have to go back to the castle in a few minutes or Remus will come looking for me. Please, don't be angry, Severus."

Harry reached one hand out and rested it against Severus' cheek. Then he slowly leaned forward, brushing his lips through Severus'. "Don't be angry," he sighed into Severus, and Severus moved his hand into Harry's.

"As long as you come back to me."

"I will, I promise, as soon as I can."

They kissed, and Severus wondered how different it was from kissing somebody you could actually touch. He could feel the heat of Harry's life force, feel the push and pull of Harry's breathing, and the feel of their noses and lips and tongue moving through one another made him shiver and feel sparks.

"I don't want to go," Harry whispered, and his eyes were closed tight. "I don't want to leave Hogwarts and stay with Sirius."

"I know." I want you to stay here, with me, away and safe from Black.

"I have to."

"I know."

"Remus is waiting for me."

"Come back."

Harry stumbled backward and nodded. "I will. I promise. Bye." His cheeks were flushed, and he was sweating again. Severus could see that his lips had turned blue and he was shivering.

"Bye."

The trapdoor fell shut behind Harry, and Severus stared at it for a long time. No matter what it took, Severus was going to break the geas and get out of this prison, for both of them. Not Dumbledore or Lupin or Black or anybody else was going to stop him.


	9. Conspiracy

**9. Conspiracy**

Because of Dumbledore's absence, it was much easier for the ghosts to work on breaking the spells binding Severus. McGonagall might be deputy headmistress, but she was in no way as to attuned to Hogwarts as Dumbledore. It was simple for the ghosts to remain unseen by any of the castle's living occupants, and they were careful to avoid being sighted by any Hogwarts' portraits.

Peeves' help proved to be invaluable, as he was the only one of them who could physically move things. The headmaster's geas on Severus had shocked the poltergeist, and his willingness to aid Severus, Nicholas and Joseph multiplied fourfold after a meeting with the Bloody Baron. Nicholas and Joseph spent days in the library, searching for likely books that might aid their endeavours. The wards on the restricted section prevented them from searching for helpful books there, but even in the generally accessible part of the library the two ghosts were able to find a number of promising books.

Peeves' greatest contribution, apart from messing up the hallways and keeping both Filch and Mrs Norris preoccupied, came on Christmas Eve when he toppled nearly half the library's bookcases, and set loose a cage of Cornish Pixies. In the general confusion and mayhem this caused, he stole the books that Nicholas and Joseph had pointed out and brought them to the Shrieking Shack. It would take at least a week for Madam Pince to sort out and repair the damage done, and there was little chance she would notice the missing books before then. 

No doubt the headmaster would be informed, but he was not due back until a day before term's start, and by that time things should have been put back to order and the books returned. Dumbledore would probably leave disciplining Peeves to the Bloody Baron. For once, Peeves had nothing to fear from Slytherin's House ghost. 

In the meantime, Peeves hid out in the Shack with Severus. This way he could keep out of McGonagall, Pince and Filch's way, and Severus needed him to turn the pages of whatever book he was reading. Being stuck in the Shack with Severus did nothing to improve the poltergeist's behaviour. He bounced around the Shack singing 'Snivelly Snapey Weepy Baby' for the hundredth time, crept up behind Severus and tried to startle him, and asked the most outrageous and annoying questions whenever Severus called him to turn a page. Severus ignored Peeves as best he could, and in the end, he decided the poltergeist's help was well worth putting up with his obnoxious behaviour.

The week passed too quickly. Severus did find some useful information, but by the time Peeves had to return the books, he was still little closer to finding a means of escape.

From what he had been able to gather from the texts on binding spells, it was likely that Dumbledore had tied both into Hogwarts' wards. That first time he cast the geas on Severus for Nicholas' Death Day party he would have maintained the spell himself, but to shoulder a permanent geas would be too much of a strain on any wizard. By tying both geas and binding spells into Hogwarts' wards, Dumbledore could forget about them until he decided it was time to end them. This meant that, even if Severus found a wizard or witch prepared to break the spells binding him, the effect that would have on the castle's wards would immediately notify the headmaster of what had been done. 

One of the texts on the nature of ghosts revealed that a wizard's ghost might still be able to use magic, provided he had his wand. Unfortunately, Severus had no idea what had happened to his wand, or his body for that matter, because by the time he had been able to manifest himself Dumbledore had already taken care of both.

Nicholas and Joseph told Severus that he should be able to find his last resting place. Unless his body had been cremated and the ashes scattered, his ghost would naturally be pulled toward it, just like there would be a similar connection with the place of his death. Severus concentrated and tried to find within himself any pull towards his bodily remains, but there was none. 

Perhaps the geas and binding spells blocked that link out, but that was a small hope. If Dumbledore had gone to all the trouble of trapping Severus in the Shack and keeping secret what had happened that night over two decades ago, then he most likely would have cast an _Incendio_ on both body and wand. He had not paid the least respect to Severus' ghost, why would he pay any to Severus' remains.

Severus did find a spell that would prevent any wizard from summoning or detecting him, and thus keep him safe from Dumbledore should he ever escape and find his wand. Dumbledore had only been able to trap Severus at the Shrieking Shack because Severus had died there, and he would naturally have been inclined to stay there. Should Severus ever manage to escape his prison, the spell would ensure that no witch or wizard would ever again be able to bind him against his will.

But none of this would do Severus any good unless the geas and binding spells were broken, and that was the one problem they had been unable to solve. 

Nicholas argued with Severus that they should ask Harry for help. Even though he was only a fifth year student, he was quite powerful. He was also one of Dumbledore's favourites, and it was unlikely the headmaster would punish him.

"This stubborn refusal to involve Harry just doesn't make any sense, Severus. You told me what he said before he left: he has practically said he wants to be your boyfriend. You're a Slytherin, shouldn't you be using that?"

"Harry has enough problems of his own. I'm not going to burden him with mine as well, and that's final."

While this reasoning did appeal to Nicholas' Gryffindor sentiments, he remained convinced that Harry was their only chance of breaking the geas and binding spells. Severus knew that Nicholas was liable to approach Harry himself if he thought that was the right thing to do, but he managed to extract a promise from the other ghost not to do so. Asking Harry for help was Severus' decision to make.

Severus did indeed not want to bother Harry with his own problems on top of all that the other boy had to deal with already. But his refusal to ask for Harry's help rested on more than that. Asking for help would mean admitting that he could not solve this himself. That might be true, and the fact that he so readily accepted the help of Nicholas and the other ghosts didn't make much sense if he tried to explain it that way, but asking Harry for help was different. He didn't want to owe Harry anything, didn't want Harry to feel pressured to help, or responsible for Severus. 

Finally, if he asked Harry to help and they failed, all would be revealed. Severus just knew that it would mean the end of every last good thing he had left. Dumbledore would ward the Shack against all entry; he would never see Nicholas or any of the other ghosts again. He would never see Harry again. Severus was a Slytherin; he was not brave like Nicholas. He was not prepared to risk the little he had unless he was certain it would yield the results he wanted.

Nicholas let the subject rest, but it was obvious he did not quite agree. To make matters worse, Peeves had overheard them talking, and Severus had to endure endless renditions of his new song: 'Potty Wee Potty and Snivelly Snapey both together sitting in a tree, kay eye ess ess eye en gee.'

It was nearly a relief when Dumbledore returned and Peeves had to take the books back to the library. The Headmaster returned two days before the start of term, and Peeves was indeed sent to the Bloody Baron for disciplining. Severus, Nicholas and Joseph nervously waited for any sign that Dumbledore might have discovered what they had done. However, there was no visit from an irate headmaster, and all three ghosts sighed in relief. Their explorations had not been an entire failure, but Severus was still not much closer to escaping.


	10. Safe Haven II

**10. Safe Haven II**

Harry had said he would come down to the Shack first thing upon his return, but Severus hadn't quite expected Harry to do just that. Nicholas had told him that Black would be dropping Harry off late in the evening after dinner before leaving on Order business. Severus doubted that either Lupin or Dumbledore would allow Harry to leave the castle at night.

However, much like the last time Harry had come to see him, the trapdoor was flung open near midnight. There was a shimmer in the air, but Severus could not see Harry. He wondered if perhaps Peeves was up to one of his pranks again, but the sound of footsteps on the floor suggested otherwise.

"Harry?" Severus asked, trying to track the boy. Something seemed out of place in one of the corners of the room, and Severus moved his hand through the air, searching. "Harry?" He felt the warmth as his arm passed through a living being.

"Hey, stop groping me," came Harry's voice, and Severus snatched his hand back. While the words should have been light and teasing, Harry's voice sounded hoarse and broken.

"Harry?"

The Invisibility Cloak fell away to reveal Harry's face, making it seem as if he were just a floating head.

"Hi, Severus."

Severus was taken aback by how much Harry had aged in just three weeks. His green eyes were dull, his glasses smudged and they did not conceal the dark rings beneath his eyes. He looked pale and sickly, and Severus wanted to see whatever else Harry was hiding beneath that Invisibility Cloak. He wanted to ask whether Harry was all right, but doubted that Harry would take such a question well. He wanted to ask what Black had done to him, wanted to vent his rage at the monster, but the geas kept him silent.

So in the end he leaned forward and pressed their lips into each other briefly. "I'm glad you came back to me."

"I promised, didn't I?" Harry answered, smiling wanly. He wriggled his hand out through the gap in his cloak and laid it on the floor next to him; Severus rested his hand in the same place.

"It's good to be back here, with you." Harry whispered as he leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. The sleeve of Harry's robe had moved up just enough to reveal a ring of finger-shaped bruises around his wrist. Severus stared at them. The geas was a suffocating noose around his neck.

Harry's face relaxed and his breathing evened out. Severus realised he had fallen asleep, and he wished he could sit next to Harry and have him lean his head on Severus' shoulder. He wished he could put his arms around Harry instead of only _through_ him. But he couldn't, so Severus watched over Harry's sleeping form. Every time he removed his hand from Harry's, the other boy would twitch and frown, and Severus hastily returned his hand, closing it into a fist briefly in an approximation of a reassuring squeeze. 

Halfway through the night Nicholas appeared. Harry's disappearance had been noticed and his visit to Severus was not one he had warned Lupin about. The werewolf had sent Nicholas to check whether Harry might be at the Shack. Severus' lip curled in disdain that Lupin would not check up on that himself; not that he was eager to see the werewolf, not at all. Nicholas readily agreed to tell Lupin that Harry was all right, while it was clear to the other ghost that this was most definitely not the case. 

It was up to Harry to decide whether to share his secrets, and with whom. It was Harry's decision whether to ask for help or not.

*~*

Harry started spending most weeknights at the Shack with Severus, sleeping on the couch, if he bothered to transfigure something into one, or otherwise simply on the floor. Severus was amazed that Dumbledore allowed it. Then again, he had all of a sudden decided to take away Harry's weekends with Severus in order to train him. He would have had to have given Harry something in return.

Severus worried about Harry. His sleep was troubled by nightmares and visions sent to him by Voldemort, and there was nothing Severus could do. They still did Harry's homework together, and Harry was starting to show more and more of an interest in at least the theory of Potions.

When Harry wasn't studying or sleeping fitfully, he was usually silent. He didn't talk about Quidditch or his friends anymore. Severus wondered whether Harry still had friends; he spent all his free time either training with Dumbledore, Flitwick and Lupin, or in the Shrieking Shack with Severus. He doubted whether Harry was even half as open with either Ron or Hemione as he was with Severus.

Not that he was very open with Severus. He refused to talk about or even mention Black or anything that had happened over the Christmas holidays. Perhaps he was with Severus mainly because he was actually unable to ask Harry any questions about Black.

Severus couldn't understand why Dumbledore and Harry's other teachers did nothing. Were they blind, or wilfully ignorant?

Harry was not willing to talk about Black, but he did start mentioning Lupin. The werewolf was obviously Harry's favourite teacher, and Severus suffered through stories of how he had taught Harry the Patronus Charm in his third year. He wanted to tell Harry that he did not want to hear about the filthy beast that had killed him. However, either the geas would not allow him to speak, or he would decide against it for fear of driving Harry away.

Then one night, when the moon was full, Harry broke the unspoken pact between them.

"After you told me what had happened, how Sirius – how you were killed," Harry said, and Severus wanted to scream at him that he had been _murdered_, not killed, "I talked to Remus about it."

Harry was lying on his couch again, and Severus was glad he was sitting on the other side of the room and not with him for once. Otherwise, he would have had to get up and leave Harry's side, and he was already tempted to do so. Just the mention of his death and Lupin brought the geas back to Severus' full attention.

"He said he hadn't known about – He said he hadn't meant to, that he would never have condoned it."

_That doesn't matter. He killed me, Harry. Lupin is a beast and that beast tore me apart and then ate me. I don't care if he knew what Black was up to or not. He killed me!_

"I asked him how he could ever be friends with... my father and the others after what had happened, and he said he hadn't, not really. My father didn't know and didn't understand why Remus wouldn't talk to – talk to Sirius anymore, and things kind of went downhill from there."

Harry paused and avoided looking at Severus. Severus stared down at the Potions tome in front of him. He didn't need Harry apologising for or trying to make him feel sorry for the werewolf.

"It's probably why my parents messed up with that secret keeper business," Harry continued, more to himself than Severus. "Remus said Sirius probably thought Remus was trying to get revenge this way, that now that he'd killed someone he would more likely turn to Voldemort. And he didn't trust Sirius anymore either, and so he believed that Sirius had indeed betrayed my parents."

_So what?__ Is it my fault blasted James Potter is dead? My fault that Black spent twelve too short years where he belongs?_

"Remus is sorry."

_Oh yes, that werewolf is sorry. Sorry enough to let Dumbledore do this to me and not say a word._

"It wasn't his fault."

Severus stared at Harry, wanted him to meet his eyes. The geas was choking him.

"I know that, but –"

But that was all the geas would allow him to say. Severus knew it wasn't Lupin's fault. He didn't believe Black had involved the werewolf in his little plot to murder Severus, but that wasn't the point. Lupin had been the one to kill him, and Lupin had left Severus bound to the Shack just as much as Dumbledore had. Why did Harry have to bring this up? If Lupin was too much of a coward to tell Severus this himself, other than that one pitiful visit twenty years ago, what was Harry doing trying to apologise for him?

"It's just, you really... mean a lot to me, Severus. I care about you, but Remus is the closest I can get to being with my parents, and he's important to me too." Harry fell silent, staring at his nervously fidgeting hands.

Severus took a moment to digest that, even if the geas wouldn't really allow him to say much in reply. He had never spoken to Harry about Lupin, or confronted him about the fact that his 'favourite teacher' was also the one who had killed Severus. Not that he could have, because of the geas. But Harry must be feeling the conflict in loyalty.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, and he reached out for Severus' hand. "Thank you for listening." Severus hesitated for a moment, then left his book and settled on the floor next to Harry, putting his hand into Harry's. If listening was all Harry would allow Severus to do, then so be it.

At least he knew that Harry would never try to apologise for, let alone justify, Sirius Black's actions. Black was Harry's godfather and had been James Potter's closest friend, but Remus Lupin was Harry's closest connection to his parents. Harry didn't need to talk about Black; Severus already understood.


	11. Escape

**11. Escape**

Severus felt it immediately when Hogwarts' wards collapsed and took both geas and binding spells with them.

It was early spring, and the full moon was only a few days away. Black was at the castle for a week, visiting his godson, and so Harry had been unable to visit. Severus worried and tried to distract himself from the geas by reading the seventh year level Potions texts that Harry had charmed and left for him. They did little to soothe his nerves.

Nicholas and Joseph were unable to visit as often either. Apparently, there were rumours that Voldemort was planning something, perhaps an attack, and the headmaster had enlisted the aid of ghosts, poltergeist and portraits to guard the castle and its grounds. Nicholas had been able to slip by the Shack the night before to let Severus know Harry was looking pale and skittish again and that he was trying as unobtrusively as he could to avoid spending time alone with Black. However, his friends and teachers seemed to conspire against him, mistaking his distress for Voldemort-related worries.

Severus knew better, but he was unable to do or say anything as the geas' noose tightened around his throat.

If only Harry could slip out of the castle and come to him for a little while. But Black didn't know that Harry spent so much of his time with Severus, and they both wanted to keep it that way. At least the headmaster and Lupin agreed on that as well, for Harry had mentioned that they'd told his godfather the same lie as his fellow students, that he spent that time training with Lupin, Dumbledore or Flitwick. This was in part now the truth, at least for the times that Harry disappeared on the weekend.

Then, three nights before the full moon, four days before Black was finally due to leave, Hogwarts' wards collapsed.

There was a sizzle in the air, and all of a sudden the noose was gone, and Severus was shrieking, shrieking, shrieking, as the werewolf tore him apart. A hook seemed to embed itself in his soul, and it pulled him sideways with a lurch, then through the walls of the Shack and out into the open air for the first time in twenty-one years. In a daze, Severus looked at the stars above, the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade to his left, and the black shadow of Hogwarts against the night sky to his right. He stopped screaming and concentrated on stopping his stigmata from appearing, even though it felt so good to be able to display them and thus express the injustice done to him. The hook that was lodged in his chest propelled him forward, toward the Forbidden Forest.

_My grave_, Severus realised. _I am being led to my grave._

Severus caught a glimpse of the groundskeeper's hut, and then he was flying through the trees and into the forest. He was not taken far, and not even to a clearing, just an nondescript patch of grass between two trees. There was nothing to mark the spot, but Severus felt the faint touch of magic that indicated Dumbledore had buried him here, and according to Wizarding rites as well. Did this mean...?

If Severus had still been alive, his heart would have been pounding as he moved down into the earth. Severus found his bones, and trailed his fingers over the broken and gnawed remains of his body. His flesh had long ago decayed or been eaten away, leaving only brittle bone, tooth and nail. His fingers tangled in his own hair, matted and filthy with blood and dirt.

_I am dead_, Severus thought, even though he had already known that for twenty-one years. Seeing his own physical remains, however, seemed a confirmation that he had needed and been denied for so long. _This is not me. I am dead, free of these trappings._

He was free.

Unable to delay any longer, Severus turned his attention to the mess of little bones that had once been his hands and fingers. Among them lay his wand. Severus lovingly stroked the scarred and gnawed wood. The werewolf must have chewed on it, but had not, thank Merlin, snapped it. It was whole, and for the first time in over twenty-one years, Severus felt that way as well. He closed his hand around the scarred wood, felt resistance, and then moved up through the earth, wand clenched in his fist.

Floating between the trees in the moonlit forest, Severus stared at the wand, _his_ wand, he held in his hand. All that was left in that shallow grave was a piece of wood and a unicorn's hair.

Severus bit his lip and tried to remember the spell that would conceal a ghost from any living thing.

"_Abde Umbram Meam_."

He felt the pull of energy, felt himself flicker in and out of awareness as the spell drained the power it needed from him. Then the spell seemed to settle, and the energy transfer steadied to a slow drip. He would not be able to maintain the spell indefinitely, and he would have to be careful casting any more spells lest he exhaust himself, but he should be able to keep it up long enough to get into Hogwarts unnoticed.

Hogwarts. 

Harry!

Severus cursed himself for wasting time. He flew as fast as he could through the forest and over the empty moonlit grounds towards the castle. A heavy feeling of dread weighed Severus down. He hardly took notice of the castle's main doors and the moving staircases, intent only on finding Harry and making sure he was not harmed. He recognised McGonagall's voice sounding through the corridors on a Sonorus charm.

"All students remain in your dorms, I repeat, remain in your dorms. There are still Death Eaters at large –"

He sped through the halls toward the Gryffindor dorms, noticing the scorch marks on the walls and floor and then a body swathed in a black cloak. A white mask lay broken on the stone floor, a few feet away. Severus followed the trail of dark magic away from Gryffindor tower. There had obviously been a duel of some kind, but it was hard to tell between whom.

Then, up ahead, Severus heard a heartbreaking wail that one moment seemed to come from the throat of a man, and the next a dog. He rounded a corner and paused, horrified by the scene before him.

There were more black cloaked figures lying here, and the one closest to him caught Severus' attention first. The wizard was dead; there was no denying that. Blood red eyes stared up at the ceiling from a serpentine face: scaly skin and no nose. Severus could feel the taint of dark magic emanating from the corpse. There was no sign of the wizard's ghost, but it was too early for that anyway.

Next Severus saw Dumbledore, looking even older than his many years, leaning back against a wall. His beard and hair were singed, and there was blood seeping through the sleeve of his canary yellow robes. Lupin had jumped to his side and carefully aided the old wizard to sit on the floor. Lupin had grown _old_. His face was lined and his hair streaked with grey, although he did seem in good health otherwise.

Then Severus saw Black, who was on his knees, wailing and cradling Harry's body to his chest.

Harry.

Severus was at Harry's side a moment later, oblivious to Black, to Flitwick and Pomfrey trying to coax him to give them the body.

Harry's limbs and face were slack. His green eyes were glazed and stared off into nothing. Unlike Voldemort, who had obviously taken some hits while duelling with Dumbledore, Harry was unmarked, and if not for the unnatural stillness and the empty eyes, one might have thought him sleeping. He still held his wand loosely in one hand.

Carefully Severus tried to grasp Harry's hand, and he did not know what to think when there was the very brief resistance of another ghost, before his fingers passed through Harry. Was Harry dead or not?

Flitwick had finally stunned Black, and helped Pomfrey to lay the boy out on the floor. She ran her wand over his body, muttering spells, and Severus watched anxiously, with no idea of what to do.

"Albus, he's not gone yet." The school nurse cried out, and Lupin started to help Dumbledore up and over to Harry.

Severus looked back down at Harry, and tried to grasp his hand. Was there more resistance this time? Not knowing what to do, but knowing that time was running out, Severus waved his wand and cast his second spell in over twenty-one years.

"_Revele Umbram Harrius_."

A soft glow surrounded Harry's body, superimposing a second image of Harry that was very slowly growing stronger and brighter. He would become a ghost. If they let him die, if he stayed dead, Harry would become a ghost. 

However, that took time – it had taken Severus an entire moon to become a ghost – and time was one thing neither of them had. Already Dumbledore had joined Pomfrey, reinforcing the preliminary spells she had cast to prevent Harry from going further from them. Lupin was taking up his wand, and Flitwick was quickly casting another binding spell on Black before he too joined the other three wizards.

Severus started calling Harry's name, desperately trying to remember if he had read any spells that would stop their efforts to bring Harry back.

"You don't want to go back, Harry, you don't. Come with me, I'll keep you safe and he'll never touch you again. I swear it, Harry, please."

But already the soft glow was starting to fade, and Severus had to fight himself not to attack Dumbledore and the others. He had to concentrate on calling Harry to him.

"Severus."

Startled, Severus spun around. Before him stood the Bloody Baron, with Nicholas and Joseph just behind him, and behind them were gathered all of Hogwarts' ghosts and its one poltergeist. Dumbledore, Pomfrey, Lupin, Flitwick and Black were oblivious to the congregation of ghosts.

"Harry Potter is neither alive nor dead, but to force him to our side before his time would be unforgivable." It was the first time Severus had ever heard the Bloody Baron speak, and his voice was low and hoarse, every word solemnly chosen and intoned.

Severus' shoulders slumped, and in his mind, he could already hear Nicholas telling him to let Harry go, let him move on with his life.

"Are you willing to make that choice and answer to Harry Potter's shade for it?"

"What?" Severus could hardly believe what he was hearing.

Nicholas stepped forward to explain.

"Harry is in limbo, and either choice may wrong him. Will you take responsibility for Harry's death, or let Dumbledore take responsibility for his life? You must decide now, or the headmaster will have made the choice for you."

Severus didn't hesitate. If anyone other than Harry himself had a right to decide for him, it was Severus and not Dumbledore. It might be selfish, but Severus was not going to lose Harry, not now he was this close.

"Help me."

Nicholas smiled, and the Bloody Baron nodded. 

"Call him," the Slytherin ghost said, and Severus turned back to Harry. He tried to grasp Harry's hand, ran his fingers through the other boy's hair, and pressed kisses into Harry's lips and face.

"Harry," he whispered, "Harry. It's me, Severus. Come to me. Harry."

In the background, Severus heard the other ghosts take up the chant, calling Harry's name, calling him into the grave.

"Something's wrong –" Dumbledore said, again casting the spell to keep Harry's spirit in his body.

"Is it You-Know-"

"Keep trying."

"Harry, please, Harry."

The ghostly silver glow became stronger, and Severus tightened his hold on the other boy's hand.

Flitwick's effort to aid Dumbledore, Lupin and Pomfrey, made the _Petrificus_ he had cast on Black waver and then collapse. Black howled and threw himself at the three wizards and witch in an attempt to grab Harry again, disrupting their spells. It was all Severus and the other ghosts needed. With a nearly audible snap, the tie between Harry's spirit and his body was broken. Severus pulled the silver essence of the other boy from what was now mere flesh, bone and blood.

"Severus?" Harry asked, confused and disoriented.

"We need to get both of you out of here, follow us," Nicholas interrupted, taking Severus' hand and quickly pulling him away from the crowd, through a wall and down some stairs. Severus let the Gryffindor ghost pull them both along, eyes only for Harry.

"It's all right, Harry," he said, squeezing the other boy's hand. They were speeding through corridors and down stairs, into the heart of Hogwarts' dungeons as the Bloody Baron led the way.

Harry looked down at their joined hands and squeezed Severus' back in return. He smiled at Severus. "Yes. It is now."


	12. Happily Ever After

**12. Happily Ever After**

It was widely rumoured that the Potions position at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry was cursed. Ever since the death of Potions master Maynard during Voldemort's attack on Hogwarts over a decade ago – the same attack in which Harry Potter, at the price of his own life, had managed to kill the dark wizard Voldemort for good – not one of the able wizards or witches who took up the position managed to last more than one year.

It was not because of incompetence. It had been a very long time since Potions had been taught so well, and the number of student casualties had returned to normal levels for the first time since Nicholas Flamel taught the course back in the first half of the twentieth century. None of the Potions masters fell victim to an exploding cauldron or wart-removing draught turned poison. At the end of each year, they simply packed their bags and left, swearing never to return. They would leave their research, and invariably the next appointee would take up teaching and researching as if they had already been doing so for years.

It was as if the Potions position was haunted. 

Nevertheless, no matter what spells or exorcisms the staff and headmaster cast during the summer holidays, they invariably failed to reveal anything, and it was becoming nearly impossible to find willing applicants. _It was_, Remus Lupin – newly installed headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry – thought, _extremely vexing_.

Albus Dumbledore had passed away from old age a few months ago, nearly a decade after Voldemort's defeat to the day. The board of governors had not made any fuss about his choice of successor. The wolfsbane potion that Hogwarts' various Potions masters had developed and were still improving had done a lot for werewolf rights and their general acceptance into the population. The number of infections had decreased dramatically. There was even hope that, given enough time, lycanthropy might finally die out.

Lupin wondered if the board of governors would have been as accommodating if they had known that Dumbledore was his maternal grandfather. Lycanthropy was one thing, such favouritism was something else entirely. In the end, Lupin consoled himself that, whatever Dumbledore's motivations had been for giving him this position, he had the qualifications for the job, and he knew that he would do the very best he could for Hogwarts.

In the mental ward of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies in London, Sirius Black was strapped to his bed.

Overcome by grief for the loss of his godson Harry Potter, Black had a nervous breakdown, and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had committed him to St Mungo's only hours after Voldemort and Harry Potter's death. Whatever the doctors had reported to Dumbledore after those two short weeks of _Legilimency_ therapy would never leave that room. Dumbledore had obliviated and amended the doctors' memories. His case file was sealed, and all therapy ended, after two weeks.

For most of the year Black was a model patient, showing promise of shaking off his horrible depression. Then summer would come, and invariably there would be a relapse. He would spend hours on end screaming Harry and James Potter's names, begging them both to forgive him. In his delusions, he would also rant about a 'Severus Snape', who, as far as the hospital staff had been able to determine, had been a student at Hogwarts when Black attended, but vanished in his fifth year without a trace.

Black claimed that he was being haunted, that the ghosts of Harry Potter and Severus Snape were tormenting him. These were obviously delusions, and the nurses and doctors tried in vain to reassure Black that St Mungo's had wards that repelled ghosts, and no amount of scrying or revelation spells ever showed any sign of ghostly visits.

With Dumbledore's death, Black's guardianship had fallen to Remus Lupin, but the new headmaster of Hogwarts was unlikely to change a thing about Black's situation. After Black had spent twelve years in Azkaban and another ten in a mental ward, Lupin suspected the man was right where he belonged.

In the Potions master's quarters in Hogwarts' dungeons, the ghosts of Harry Potter and Severus Snape were nearly ready to leave for their summer holiday. There was nothing like spending a few weeks haunting a certain patient at St Mungo's. 

They had released this year's Potions master, a bumbling idiot by the name of Terence Card, after the end-of-term feast. Like all the others, he had left as quickly as he could. It had not taken long for them to get the knack of possessing the living, and they spent most of the school year taking turns or sharing the body of whichever hapless fool had decided to try his luck at being Hogwarts' Potions master.

Currently Severus and Harry were lying on the bed in their quarters: two transparent, silver boys in student robes curled around each other beneath the bed's canopy.

"Do you think perhaps we should tell Remus the truth?" Harry said thoughtfully, cuddling closer to Severus. "Dumbledore is finally dead now, and it is getting incredibly difficult to find us new bodies."

Severus chuckled and briefly pressed his lips to Harry's.

"I don't know..."

"Well, it's not as if there isn't a precedent. Binns is still teaching. And between the two of us we can cast enough spells to take care of the physical aspects of teaching."

"Perhaps," Severus murmured in reply, slipping his hands through Harry's robes and making the other ghost giggle. "I'll ask Nicholas what he thinks; have him sound Lupin out over the holiday."

"Hmmm," Harry sighed happily, and for a long while they spoke no more.

_the end_

*~*

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